Cocaine in 2019 banana shipments likely ‘not meant’ for Okanagan grocers: RCMP
Posted January 20, 2021 6:45 am.
Last Updated January 20, 2021 11:37 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
KELOWNA (NEWS 1130) – It’s been close to two years since it happened, but we’re learning more about a pair of banana shipments to a couple Okanagan grocery stores that ended up having more than just fruit in them.
In February 2019, a Kelowna store found 12 large bricks of cocaine in their delivery of bananas. The packages, which weighed about a kilogram each, were reported to the RCMP.
The same day the discovery was made in Kelowna, West Kelowna Mounties received a call from a different grocer who had also uncovered what they suspected to be drugs in their banana shipment.
Officers eventually seized an additional nine packages, which were also confirmed to be cocaine.
Mounties say they and the Canada Border Service Agency have determined the shipments were from Columbia, and likely weren’t meant for these stores.
“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 Valley as a result of a missed pickup at some point along the way,” said Cpl. Jeff Carroll of the Kelowna RCMP Drug Section.
The RCMP says there was enough cocaine for every resident in Kelowna to receive nearly six doses each.
