Cocaine haul from banana crates at German supermarkets totals 223kg

The total amount of cocaine discovered hidden among banana crates by supermarket workers in Germany this week was 223 kilograms, customs authorities said on Friday.

Workers at seven supermarkets in Berlin and four other markets in surrounding region found the packets of cocaine hidden among bananas on Thursday.

Christian Lanninger, spokesman for the Berlin-Brandenburg Customs Investigation Office, told the Märkische Allgemeine newspaper on Friday that the cocaine had a street value of around €10-15 million ($11-16 million) or more.

Workers found a total of 119 kilograms at stores in Berlin, and another 104 kilograms at stores in the surrounding state of Brandenburg, according to authorities.

Police planned to incinerate the cocaine on Friday.

A joint narcotics investigation team from the state criminal investigation offices of Brandenburg and Berlin and the customs investigation office is now continuing to work on the case.

Police again declined to reveal on Friday where exactly the supermarkets were located.

It also remained unclear how many boxes the cocaine was hidden in, what degree of purity it had, what country the bananas came from and via which port the boxes reached Europe.