Greece intercepts 34 kilos of cocaine in a container with bananas

The Greek coast guard has seized another shipment of cocaine smuggled from South America in a refrigerated container carrying a cargo of bananas. The latest discovery comes just over two months after Greek and US authorities reported busting a major gang they said was responsible for drug trafficking to Europe.

Authorities said they inspected three containers that came from an unnamed container ship that arrived at the Piraeus container terminal. The legal cargo of bananas had been loaded onto the ship in Ecuador.

In one of the three containers, police discovered 30 wafers of cocaine. They reported the total gross weight of the shipment at thirty-four kilograms and three hundred and fifty-four grams. The estimated total value was reported at €1 million ($1.1 million).

The shipment is under investigation. Police said it was discovered in cooperation with the US Homeland Security Investigations Office at the US Embassy in Athens.

30 blocks were discovered mixed with bananas, worth more than $1.1 million (Hellenic Coast Guard)

Bananas appear to be one of the cartels’ favorite methods of trafficking. In February 2024, the UK’s National Crime Agency took what it believed was the largest seizure of narcotics in British history. They found 5.7 tons of cocaine hidden in a shipment of bananas from South America. Similarly, in 2023, Spanish authorities reported their largest seizure, totaling more than 9 tons of cocaine, which also arrived in a shipment of bananas from Ecuador. Two weeks earlier, Dutch authorities reported that they confiscated more than 8 tons of cocaine, including a shipment of bananas arriving in Rotterdam.

Greek authorities, working with the Americans, reported the arrest of two Albanians and two Greeks in May 2024 as part of a months-long investigation. They seized 210 kilograms of cocaine hidden in a shipment of shrimp that arrived at the port of Piraeus. Police also found more than $141,000, a shotgun, bullets, cell phones and documents detailing the drug trafficking.

European authorities reported record levels of drug trafficking in 2023, leading to new efforts to tackle the operations, including increasing port security to reduce infiltration by members of the drug operations. As efforts increase in major ports, including Rotterdam and Antwerp, smugglers are using smaller and regional ports in an attempt to evade detection.