Anti-narcotics police in Ecuador found 1.5 metric tons (MT) of cocaine in recent seizures, with part of the contraband hidden in artificial bananas.

Website Eluniverso.com reported adrug bust was carried out on properties in the areas of El Carmen, Buena Fe and Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas on Wednesday and Thursday last week, leading to 10 arrests.

On Wednesday morning, agents at the port of Fertisa in Guayaquil intercepted a container of bananas that would have been shipped to the United States.

With the support of a trained dog in a revision of the cargo, the story reported 30 boxes were loaded with fake bananas filled with a substance that tested positive to cocaine.

In total, there were 260 fruit-like wraps with 126.8kg (280lbs) of cocaine.

The 19-year-old representative of the exporting company was arrested.

www.freshfruitportal.com