840kg of cocaine delivered in banana shipments to supermarkets in Czech Republic

Worth a grand total of £68 million, two banana shipments containing 840kg of cocaine have been retrieved after they were delivered to two supermarkets in the Czech Republic.

Police are currently searching for the suspects behind the delivery, and are investigating more stores across the country on the same delivery route.

The record amount of cocaine was discovered in two supermarkets packed in moulded cubes, thought to be sent to the stores by mistake.

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The delivery was found in the towns of Jicin and Rychnov nad Kneznou in the Northern region of Czech Republic, and is thought to be worth more than £68 million in street value.

“The information about the shipment leads outside the Czech Republic, therefore we will use international police and justice cooperation,” Czech police posted on Twitter on June 10 alongside two photos of the shipment.

Speaking on a public radio station, head of the police anti-narcotics unit Jakub Frydrych said that the cocaine shipment is thought to be traced back to Central America.

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Authorities are now working on the case searching other stores that have received similar shipments, and working across unspecified countries to trace the shipments back.

The discovery follows a recent trend of similar shipments containing cocaine in banana packages over the course of the past half-decade, including a shipment worth $17.8 million found in 45 donation boxes to a prison in Texas in 2018.

Last year, 1.2 tonnes of cocaine was discovered in a banana shipment in Kent. Six suspects were arrested on suspicion of involvement with the £90 million discovery.

And it’s not just bananas, either — a recent bust found 20,000 coconuts filled with liquid cocaine, which was seized en route to Columbia.

Gemma Ross is Mixmag's Editorial Assistant, follow her on Twitter