Packages of cocaine in banana boxes that ended up at Okanagan grocery stores (RCMP photos)

By Pete McIntyre

Cocaine hidden in bananas sent to wrong destination

Jan 19, 2021 | 1:30 PM

Employees of an Okanagan grocery store got a big surprise when they went to unpack a shipment of bananas almost two years ago.

The Kelowna workers found 12 bricks of what they believed were illicit drugs, which once analyzed by police, turned out to be cocaine.

The packages, which weighed about one kilogram each, were seized by the RCMP for further investigation into its origins and intended destination.

Later that same day — Feb. 24, 2019 — RCMP in West Kelowna got a call from a grocer after they uncovered what they believed to be suspected drugs in their banana shipment. Officers seized nine individually wrapped packages from that store.

Kelowna Regional RCMP has now concluded its investigation into the case.

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“The drug section of the Kelowna RCMP Street Enforcement Unit worked collaboratively with the Canada Border Service Agency (CBSA) to determine that these shipments originated in Colombia,” Cpl. Jeff Carroll of the Kelowna RCMP Drug Section, said. “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 as a result of a missed pickup at some point along the way.”

Carroll added experts estimate the two surprise shipments of nearly pure cocaine, once cut with other agents, would have introduced upwards of 800,000 doses of crack cocaine into the Canadian drug market.

“That’s enough contraband for every resident in the City of Kelowna to receive nearly six doses each. These two seizures in the B.C. Southern Interior no doubt saved precious lives across Canada,” he added.

RCMP did not mention any arrests in connection with the case.