Police officers recovered 308 pounds (140 kg) of drugs after the sender's logistical error

Jan 8, 2014 15:51 GMT  ·  By
Supermarket workers were shocked to discover huge amounts of cocaine in banana crates
   Supermarket workers were shocked to discover huge amounts of cocaine in banana crates

Workers at Aldi supermarket in Berlin were shocked after discovering huge amounts of cocaine stashed in banana crates, at five of their different stores. The crates contained 308 pounds (140 kg) of cocaine worth $8.2 (€6) million.

The drugs were apparently coming from Colombia and, after arriving in the German port of Hamburg, they were loaded onto trucks and sent to Berlin. Because of someone's logistical mistake, instead of ending up at the arranged location, the crates were sent to local supermarkets, where workers couldn't believe their eyes at the sight of so many packs of cocaine.

Tests made on the merchandise proved that the drug was mostly 55 percent pure cocaine, and some packages were actually up to 90 percent pure. This seizure is considered one of Berlin's biggest busts in the last two decades, notes The Huffington Post.

The drug packages were first discovered by the Aldi employees in the northern neighborhood of Reinickedorf on Monday morning. During the day, more similar discoveries were reported in other Aldi supermarkets from the city, all connected to the banana shipment freshly received.

The law enforcement officers are currently investigating the case under the assumption that the tinted 1,150 banana crates were misdirected from their initial destination. “You usually only find such a large quantity of drugs at an international port. Now someone somewhere has a big problem,” the police spokesman said in an official conference, according to The Irish Times.

The significant quantity of cocaine misdirected to the Aldi supermarkets will, for sure, cause quite the panic throughout the smugglers that will have to report their error to the upper level and may have to risk their lives while doing that.

Germany's Hamburg port is known as an attractive European drug entry opportunity for smugglers, especially for those delivering merchandise from Latin American cartels. Another major bust in the same port included a stash of 1100 pounds (500 kg) of Paraguayan cocaine in wooden briquettes.