Spanish police seize record shipment of cocaine hidden in bananas from Ecuador 

Spanish police seized a record-breaking shipment of cocaine this week found hidden in boxes of bananas from Ecuador, authorities said on Friday.

Customs agents and National Police discovered about 9.5 tons of cocaine in the southern port of Algeciras within the shipping container coming from Ecuador on August 23. The shipment contained more than 1,080 boxes of bananas, said a senior official for the tax agency covering customs inspections, Jose Carlos Arobes.  

The boxes of bananas were marked with more than 30 logos identifying the criminal gangs in Europe that were supposed to receive the narcotics. Police did not identify the criminal organizations. 

The cocaine stash was the largest ever found in a single container in Spain, Spanish police said in a statement. The previous record was set in 2018 when police intercepted a shipment of 8.4 tons of cocaine also in a banana container in the port of Algeciras. 

"This operation was an unprecedented blow to one of the world's most important criminal organizations in cocaine distribution, targeting major criminal networks in Europe," the statement continued. 

Police launched an investigation in July after receiving a tip about a shipment of Colombian cocaine that would enter the country via Ecuador in August. 

The investigation found that a criminal organization in Ecuador uses an international banana trading company located in the South American country’s port of Machala to make drug shipments to the Spanish ports of Algeciras and Vigo. 

According to the police, the organization sends up to 40 shipping containers a month, some of which contain drugs.