Police and c

Police and customs officers have found 656 kilos of cocaine hidden among bananas in checks on containers at Vlissingen port.

The drugs, with a street value of some €50 million, were on their way from Ecuador to a company in Germany which, the public prosecution department said, was an unwitting partner in the smuggling attempt.

Banana shipments are often used to smuggle in drugs and some of the 4.7 tonnes of cocaine found at the beginning of this year in Rotterdam port had been hidden among the fruit.

Last year, officials found almost four tonnes of cocaine at Vlissigen port, a sharp rise on the 2021 haul of 250 kilos but well below the 47 tonnes of cocaine seized in Rotterdam.

By contrast, seizures at Antwerp port reached a record 110 tonnes, compared with 90 tonnes in 2021, according to the Belgian authorities