Avocados may be replacing bananas as a way of smuggling cocaine into the country, following two large hauls this weekend.

In the first case, customs officials found 553 kilos of the drug hidden in a consignment of avocados that that had been shipped from Peru to Rotterdam port.

The avocados were heading for a company in Ridderkerk but it is unconnected to the drugs trade, the public prosecution department said.

In the second case, officials found 80 kilos of the drug hidden inside 400 fake avocados which had been delivered to a company in Barendrecht.

The smuggling attempt was spotted when one of the fruit fell to the ground and turned out to be made of plastic.

Those drugs came from the Dominican Republic, the department said.