Police in Kelowna, Canada, said on Jan. 19, 2021, that 21 kilograms of cocaine were shipped from Colombia as part of a failed drug deal.
Kelowna RCMP
A botched drug-trafficking operation resulted in banana shipments stashed with cocaine being accidentally sent to Canadian grocery stores, authorities said.
Police in Kelowna said Tuesday that 21 kilograms of cocaine were shipped from Colombia as part of the failed drug deal, Global News reported.
“Our investigation leads us to believe these illicit drugs were not meant to end up in the Central Okanagan, and arrived here in the Okanagan Valley as a result of a missed pickup at some point along the way,” said Jeff Carroll, an officer with the Kelowna Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
The discovery was originally made by workers at a Kelowna grocery store who found 12 packages of cocaine hidden under a banana shipment in February 2019.
Later that day, another grocery store owner contacted authorities about also discovering the drug in the fruit delivery.
Police seized the two shipments of cocaine, which they estimate amounted to more than 800,000 doses, and launched an international investigation.