Millions of dollars worth of cocaine was found in German produce shipments. Again.
Once is a mistake, twice is a pattern but three times might be enough to say Germany has a cocaine problem.
More than $28 million worth of cocaine was found in banana crates at supermarkets in Northern Germany this week, reports CNN, marking the third time the drug has made its way into the country's warehouses since 2017.
The most recent incident was record-breaking for the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, with an estimated 500 kilograms of cocaine found in Aldi supermarkets in the city of Rostock, reports German-news outlet The Local.
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Harald Nowack, a spokesman for the public prosecutor's office in Rostock, said the amount was "really unique" for the region, although similar busts have occurred over the last few years across the country. More than 100 kilograms were found in a pineapple shipment in 2018, and a 2017 shipment in Hamburg was found to have a record-breaking 3.8 tons (3,447 kilograms) of cocaine.
Cocaine shipments in the port of Rostock were last seen in 1992 and 2005, per CNN. In both cases, around 100 kilograms of cocaine were found.
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Marianne is The Week’s Social Media Editor. She is a native Tennessean and recent graduate of Ohio University, where she studied journalism and political science. Marianne has previously written for The Daily Beast, The Crime Report, and The Moroccan Times.
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