Cocaine
with a street value of £25m hidden inside plastic bananas imported
from Colombia along with the genuine fruit has been seized.
Four
men were arrested in Lambeth and Kent and 150 kilos of cocaine
intercepted after an intelligence operation by officers from the
Metropolitan Police's Special Projects Team.
The
consignment of bananas arrived at Dover at around 6.00am on Thursday,
10 July.
It
was then transported by lorry at around 9.00am to a unit at the Oast
Park Trading Estate in Hartlip, Kent.
A
48-year-old Kent man unloaded the importation and locked up the
warehouse.
The
warehouse was kept under observation by detectives, while their
colleagues continue to monitor other members of the criminal
network.
The
lorry driver was not part of the network.
At
around 7.00pm that day, three Colombian men aged 36, 46 and 39 met at
an internet café in Stockwell, south London.
They
are believed to have accessed instructions relating to the assignment
via email.
The
men were kept under surveillance and were arrested half an hour later
as they left the café.
'A'
is from Kent. The other three men live in London.
Police
forced entry to the warehouse at 10.30pm, and, following a search of
the consignment of bananas, found cocaine compressed and hidden
inside plastic bananas concealed within the fruit.
All
four men remain in custody at a London police station.
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