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MADRID: Spanish police have uncovered at least 25 kilos of heroin hidden in boxes of plantains destined for the shelves of Madrid supermarkets, local media reported on Sunday.
Bananas soaked into water are seen at a US-supported banana-packing plant in Senda "B" in Chapare region, some 600 km (370 miles) southeast of La Paz, Bolivia, May 16, 2006. [Agencies] |
A worker at the low-cost Lidl supermarket found a brick of the drug as he unloaded a box of the fruit, which is related to the banana, on Saturday morning, El Mundo newspaper said.
Police were alerted and hunted around all the Lidl branches in the Madrid region as well as the main city market. Sniffer dogs found up to 25 packets of the drug.
"Two or three police cars came and they went straight to the bananas to search them," an employee at one Lidl branch told El Mundo.
Lidl withdrew all the plantains, which had come from Ivory Coast and Ecuador, from its shops, the newspaper said. Lidl representatives could not be reached for comment.