In a statement, the Dutch Public Prosecution Service announced the seizure of more than eight tons of drugs in a shipment of bananas from Ecuador.

The alkaloid had arrived in a container in the port of Rotterdam and had a passage to Panama. This became the largest drug seizure in that country’s history.

The seizure took place on July 13, but the announcement was postponed as the origin of the alkaloid was sought. The street value is estimated at around 600 million euros.

Customs agents located the drug during a check with trained dogs and a scan of the container, and the drugs were on the pallets on which the bananas were loaded.

The largest seizure registered in the Netherlands so far was about 4,500 kilos of cocaine, also in a container of bananas from South America in 2021.

The HARC team (Customs, National Public Prosecutor’s Office, Port Police and Public Prosecutor for Financial Crimes) intercepted a total of 46,789 kilos of cocaine in the port of Rotterdam last year, less than in 2021, when the port authorities found more than 70,000 kilos of narcotics.

Ecuador has become one of the most important exporters of cocaine in recent years and the Netherlands was the most important destination for drugs from that country after the United States and Spain last year.