German police on Friday reported confiscating 49 kilograms of cocaine hidden in banana crates, a haul that would have had a street market value of about 4 million to 5 million euros (4.2 million to 5.3 million dollars). The discovery was made in a warehouse where bananas are allowed to ripen near the town of Wesseling, which lies near Cologne, on October 21, dpa reported. Banana crates have become a favourite way to smuggle drugs into Europe. Usually shipped from South America, it is typically removed from the crates at the harbours before the fruit is sent on for processing. However, in some cases, it slips through. Last year authorities discovered 20 kilograms of cocaine also hidden in banana crates near the western city of Essen. In 2014, two separate shipments of 1.1 tons of cocaine were discovered hidden among bananas in the Dutch port of Antwerp.
