A shipment of bananas in Portugal turned out to be more than €100 million worth of cocaine.

Authorities announced today they had seized 4.2 tonnes of the Class-A drug that were concealed in six pallets of fruit from Colombia.

‘It is the biggest cocaine seizure this year and one of the biggest in recent years’, said Vitor Ananias, criminal investigation coordinator at the Judiciary Police.

The cargo had entered the country on board a cargo ship with Italy’s flag through the port of Setubal, south of Lisbon.

According to police, the cocaine was of a ‘high degree of purity’, and as destined for several European countries.

No arrests have yet been made, but police have launched an investigation into the haul.

A statement said: ‘With this result, the police activity of the Judiciary Police was able to inflict a severe financial blow on the criminal organizations involved in this case.

‘This is both in terms of investment in this criminal activity and in terms of the extremely high profits from the crime that would be generated, that is, if this amount of product drug had reached the consumer distribution market.’

As one of the major trafficking routes, Portugal is fighting back against the rising tide of cocaine.

Police made several significant busts in the last year, altogether intercepting more than 14 tons of cocaine, with a street value of around €700 million.

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