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Italian Police Seize 1,700 Pounds of Cocaine Hidden in Ecuadorian Banana Shipment at Vado Ligure
Officers found the drugs hidden among pallets in a refrigerated container from Ecuador. The seizure at the northwest Italian port follows an earlier operation this month at the same facility.
Jul 21, 3:40 PM·1m read2 sources
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Italian police seized 1,700 pounds of cocaine with an estimated street value of $286 million from a refrigerated container of bananas from Ecuador at the port of Vado Ligure on Tuesday. Officers discovered the packages among dozens of pallets in the northwest Italian facility. Authorities released video of officers removing the drugs from the shipment.
The seizure follows an earlier operation this month in which Guardia di Finanza officers confiscated 340 kilograms of cocaine valued at 120 million euros at the same port. Investigators have increased monitoring of Vado Ligure after that prior seizure. The port's role as a growing European trade hub has made it a repeated target for concealment attempts.
Similar methods have appeared in multiple countries. In March three people faced charges in the United Kingdom for attempting to traffic nearly $100 million worth of cocaine in bananas. Greek police seized nearly 600 pounds from an Ecuadorian container last August and more than 200 pounds in August 2024.
Russia reported seizing 1,800 pounds under a banana shipment in July 2025. Employees at a Norwegian fruit distributor found 147 kilograms two months earlier. Dominican Republic authorities confiscated nearly 9.5 tons from a banana shipment in December 2024.
Ecuador police located more than six tons in a shipment bound for Germany in June 2024.
