SPAIN - International authorities have once again been busy breaking up plans to use the guise of fresh produce to smuggle drugs. Recently, police in Spain and Ecuador conducted an operation that intercepted cocaine set to be trafficked in shipments of bananas.

Reporting from The Olive Press, relayed that authorities discovered 3.2 tonnes (7,054 lbs) of the narcotic through 21 raids in Spain and 56 in Ecuador. This was part of a mega operation, which discovered a plan to smuggle the drugs into ports in Spain through bananas coming from Ecuador, relying on the country’s reputation as a top exporter of the fruit.

The complex criminal collaboration involved transporting cocaine grown and cultivated in Colombia to the port of Guayaquil in Ecuador, according to Ecuadorian authorities. From there, it would be concealed among shipments of bananas and loaded onto cargo ships destined for the Port of Malaga and other entry points into Europe.

We thank the authorities who took down these operations before the impacts were more heavily felt by the fresh produce industry and its supply chain.