A shipment of avocados from Peru, transiting through the Panama Canal, was seized in the port of Rotterdam last week carrying around 614 kilograms of cocaine, the Public Prosecution Service reported.

The drugs, which had a street value of over 46 million euros, were hidden in two avocado containers. One of the two carried 514 kilograms of cocaine and was headed towards a company in De Lier that presumably had nothing to do with the smuggling.

The second container had 100 kilograms of cocaine inside and was headed to a company in Ridderkerk, which has also denied having anything to do with the narcotics.

The entity said that all the drugs had already been destroyed. 

Back in July, another shipment of avocados from Peru with 300 kilograms of cocaine was seized in the port of Algeciras in Spain.

Before that, on August 23, 2023, security forces seized the largest cocaine shipment in history in Algeciras, Spain. In that instance, they found a refrigerated container with almost 9,500 kilograms of drugs, this time hidden in banana boxes. 

Latin American exporters have told FreshFruitPortal.com that they are staying vigilant, as major narcotics intercept fruit shipments in ports across the globe.