Police in southern Italy announced on Tuesday that they have seized 2,700 kilograms of high-purity cocaine hidden in two refrigerated containers with a shipment of bananas from Ecuador worth $880 million. The cargo arrived from Guayaquil in Ecuador and its final destination was Armenia via the Black Sea port of Batumi in Georgia.
The police added that the drugs were found in two containers, each 12 meters long, thanks to specialized scanners and with the help of a police dog named “Joel”, Reuters news agency reported.
Police said they had found another 600 kilos of cocaine in containers of fruit from Ecuador sent via Guia Tauro in the past few days. He added that these supplies were intended for other regions of Italy, Croatia, Greece and Georgia. The central role in the drug trade is played by the ‘Ndrangheta mafia, which replaced the Sicilian Cosa Nostra and became the most powerful mafia organization in Italy, with its center in Calabria.
