In a startling turn of events, authorities in Klecany, near Prague, uncovered a staggering 650 kilograms of cocaine concealed within a shipment of organic bananas at an Albert supermarket distribution center. The find, which has sent shockwaves throughout the region, is estimated to have a final street value of around CZK 2 billion.
Nova television, a prominent news outlet, brought this incident to the forefront, confirming the discovery through National Drug Control Centre (NDC) spokesperson Lucie Šmoldasová. The illicit cargo was stumbled upon by warehouse employees who immediately contacted the police. The particulars were first reported by news server Tn.cz.
Šmoldasová explained, “During the unloading of biobananas on Saturday afternoon, workers at the Albert supermarket warehouse spotted suspicious packages and promptly alerted the police. Upon examination, these packages were found to contain kilo quantities of an unidentified substance, subsequently identified as cocaine through a random sampling.”
Estimates suggest that the 646-kilogram cocaine seizure could command a whopping two billion crowns in the illegal drug trade. The substance is reportedly valued at approximately 3,000 crowns per gram, as reported by the television station.
Insider information disclosed by Nova, attributed to a source close to the headquarters, indicates that each of the 42 crates discovered harbored more than 15 kilograms of the illicit drug. The police intervention, involving riot police, commenced around 3 pm on Saturday and extended until 9 pm, marked by the careful and heavily armed transfer of the confiscated cocaine.
In response to this significant development, police embarked on further raids across various warehouses linked to the supermarket chain, although no additional narcotics were found. Šmoldasová confirmed, “We conducted a comprehensive search of the entire banana shipment, which was en route to the Czech Republic from Ecuador via Amsterdam.”
Albert supermarket declined to offer further commentary, citing the ongoing nature of the police investigation as the reason for their reticence.
This discovery ranks among the most substantial cocaine seizures in Czech history. A comparable incident occurred in June of the prior year, wherein over 800 kilograms of cocaine were intercepted concealed within banana crates across several Czech supermarkets. Notably, a separate case unfolded in April 2015, involving the discovery of a 100-kilogram cocaine shipment within banana crates at a supermarket situated in Prague’s Zbraslav district.
Source: novinky.cz
