This shipment is bananas: Kelowna grocers receive 21 bricks of cocaine in fruit delivery

    1 of 1 2 of 1

      To quote Gwen Stefani, this is B-A-N-A-N-A-S.

      The source of two shipments to grocery stores in B.C.'s Okanagan region last year that proved to be more than bananas has been confirmed by police.

      Kelowna RCMP stated on January 19 that it completed an international drug investigation that began in February 2019.

      A Kelowna grocery store reported to police on February 24 that it had received a banana shipment, which contained 12 bricks of cocaine. Officers seized the packages, which weighed one kilogram each.

      On that same day, another grocer contacted West Kelowna RCMP after receiving suspected drugs in a banana shipment. Police seized nine packages, which also weighed one kilogram each, from this shipment.

      After analysis, the contents of the 21 packages were confirmed as cocaine, which would have provided over 800,000 doses of crack cocaine.

      “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,” Kelowna RCMP Cpl. Jeff Carroll stated in a news release.

      Kelowna RCMP and the Canada Border Service Agency determined that the shipments originated in Colombia.

      You can follow Craig Takeuchi on Twitter at @cinecraig or on Facebook.

      Comments