Staff at Albert Heijn supermarkets in Best, Eindhoven and Bavel have found several kilos of cocaine among their stock of bananas.

The drugs probably belonged to the same consignment and were most likely smuggled in via the port of Vlissingen, the public prosecutor’s office said.

Albert Heijn did not want to comment on the find. The drugs, worth over €300,000 in total, have since been removed and destroyed.

Vlissingen is one of the main ports of entry for bananas and other fresh fruit from South America.

In 2019, staff at a fruit importation company in Hedel, near Den Bosch, were threatened and attacked after becoming unwittingly mixed up in a cocaine smuggling operation. Some 400 kilos of cocaine were discovered on the premises. Seven men have since been jailed for between 18 months and 10 years for their roles in the attacks.