(Adnkronos) – Russia declared today that it has seized 820 kilograms of cocaine hidden under a load of bananas, calling it the largest drug seizure from Latin America this year. Cocaine smuggling into Russia has increased dramatically in the last two years, according to the Russian newspaper Izvestia.
Drug traffickers increasingly consider the country as a transit hub, partly because the Ukrainian port of Odessa has become inaccessible due to the Russian offensive, according to the newspaper. The Russian customs service, in collaboration with the Fsb security service, said it had discovered a batch worth “over 12 billion rubles (153 million dollars)” hidden in containers loaded (also) with bananas. The cocaine packages, disguised as compressed blocks with the label of a French luxury fashion brand, were discovered in a “hidden cavity” under the bananas.
The operation was carried out after a tip-off from “foreign colleagues about the intention of a South American criminal group to organize a smuggling channel for the supply of cocaine to Russia”. According to the newspaper, an investigation has been opened for large-scale drug trafficking, a charge that in Russia carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. Russia has a zero-tolerance policy towards drug use and smuggling: it imposes heavy penalties on those convicted of trafficking small quantities of drugs, including foreigners.
