If one first tries to draw lines between the transport of bananas and the smuggling of cocaine, a clear picture emerges. Banana exports are a frequently used cover for drug traffickers moving cocaine from Latin America to Europe. Not the first time The seizure of 820 kilos of cocaine at Bama’s banana warehouse in Oslo is the largest cocaine seizure ever made in Norway. Other international media have pointed out that it is not a new trend. RARE FRUIT: Much of the cocaine that ends up in Europe is transported in containers transporting fruit from Latin America. Photo: VALERIA MONGELLI / AFP Last summer, British police discovered half a ton of cocaine hidden in a batch of bananas on a boat from Colombia in a port in Essex, southeast England. At the same time, eight tonnes of cocaine were found in a banana shipment in the port area of Setubal in Portugal. The shipment came from Colombia. The list of similar fittings is long. 840 kg of cocaine was found hidden among bananas unpacked at a supermarket in the Czech Republic. In Brussels, a merchant was to unpack a shipment of bananas, but found several packages of cocaine. It is also not the first time this has happened in Norway. Back in 2013, customs officers found 145 kilos of cocaine hidden in banana boxes on Økern in Oslo. SNOW FOR SMUGGLING: With the help of the drug dog Tika, the Customs found 145 kilos of cocaine hidden in banana boxes in 2013. Photo: The Customs So how does it all fit together? The simple answer is geography. Bananas and cocaine are from the same area, and both are in demand consumer goods. Paul Larsson is a professor at the Norwegian Police Academy and has researched organized crime. – When it comes to smuggling such things, there are many ways to do it. When I was researching the transport of cannabis, it was all sorts of strange things that were used, says Larsson, and mentions vegetables and ship parts. CRIMINOLOGY: Paul Larsson, Norwegian Police Academy. Photo: Henrik Myhr Nielsen / news – I don’t know why bananas were used here, but it may have something to do with the country of origin. It is also possible that they have someone working in that system. The perfect hiding place Renowned expert on smuggling and founder of Insight Crime, Jeremy McDermot, highlights this in an interview with the magazine Vice: – One of the reasons why bananas are a good cover is that they depend on being transported quickly through the port so as not to get bad. This puts pressure on the customs authority. – The bananas are also transported in refrigerated containers, which are perfect hiding places. Both the thick walls and the cooling units can be used, he continues. Wave of cocaine Europe has been hit by a “wave of cocaine”, Europol stated last autumn. The figures show a dramatic increase in seizures every single year. At the same time, the street price of cocaine remains stable, so the seizures apparently do not affect the market. There is far too much to take off: for every tonne of cocaine that is stopped at the borders, ten tonnes slip in, according to Europol’s calculations. CHECK ON THE CONTINENT: A container has been picked for manual check in Antwerp. Photo: Simen Ekern International cooperation The size of the seizure made in Oslo this week has attracted attention. The police do not know who the recipient is, but are working on several hypotheses. A central theory is that the batch was mistakenly sent to Norway, and that the crates of cocaine were actually to be sent to another recipient country. – The seizure made in Oslo is more than twice as large as what the Customs Agency has seized in total in the last five years, says Tim Gurrik in the Customs Agency. SEIZURE IN GERMANY: On Tuesday, German police made a record seizure of 1,200 kilos of cocaine in these banana crates. It also led to seizures in Oslo. Photo: German police The police say they cannot rule out that there may be a larger network with connections to Norway. Much of the drug traffic has a background in international networks, and is often controlled from abroad. Professor Paul Larsson elaborates: – It is difficult to know what to think. I think Grete Lien Metlid (Head of the Joint Intelligence and Investigation Unit) may be on to something when she says it was a mistake, that you have lost control of it. As much as this would constitute a fairly large part of the use in Norway annually, it would not be wise to send it in a hurry. SEIZURES IN GERMANY: The value is several hundred million kroner Photo: German police No dangerous growth The Institute of Public Health’s overview shows that there has been no explosive growth in the use of cocaine in Norway in recent years, but that use has increased somewhat among young adults. 2 percent state that they have used cocaine in the past twelve months.
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Several large cocaine seizures in Europe. Why is cocaine smuggled in banana boxes? – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
