ITALY – An international drug ring has been taken down, thanks to the uncovering of some less-than-sweet bananas. After uncovering an initial test run of smuggled cocaine within a fruit shipment, authorities were able to take intercept a potential load valued at $1.7 billion in drugs from entering into Europe.

Authorities were first alerted to the crime ring’s activities after 139 pounds of pure cocaine was found in a shipment of bananas. According to Reuters, criminals were using the loaded bananas to test smuggling drugs through the central Italian port city of Livorno.

If left unchecked, this would have enabled the organized offenders to smuggle upwards of 17,000 pounds of cocaine into Europe through fruit. Instead, authorities took 54 people into custody that had ties to a notorious Southern Italy mafia group. 

The haul itself was seized off a plantation in Colombia, near Port Turbo. The seizure, and preventative measure, was what Italian newspaper La Repubblica called “the largest drug seizure in Italian history of combatting drug trafficking.” 

With bananas protected from a nefarious outcome this time, what crafty ways with seedy felons look to incorporate fresh produce into their practices next? AndNowUKnow will have the latest.