Cocaine Smugglers' £25m Banana Slip-Up

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.