'Class A drugs' worth up to £1m found in box of Tesco bananas
Unexpected item in the bagging area
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Suspected class-A drugs have been found inside a box of bananas by a supermarket worker in Wokingham – with a street value that could be over £1million.
The Tesco employee was unpacking the fruit, imported from South America, when he discovered five bags of white powder, each weighing 1kg, the Mirror has said.
Police are now investigating after being called to the Tesco superstore in Wokingham, Berkshire, last week.
Director of drug research company the Independent Monitoring Unit, Matthew Atha said: "White powder from South America? It's going to be cocaine."
Mr Atha said each bag could be worth up to £150,000 and even more when valued at street value.
According to the Tesco website, the majority of their bananas are imported from farms across Costa Rica and then transported to "distribution centres" throughout the UK before being sent out to stores for retail.
Thames Valley Police said: "We were called on 22 July to Tesco at Finchampstead Road, Wokingham to reports of packages being found in a consignment of fruit. They are believed to be class A drugs. Officers are investigating."
This isn't an isolated incident. In one recent event, £11m worth of cocaine was accidentally delivered in boxes of fruit to 13 German branches of supermarket Aldi, and in 2013 the class A drugs were found again in bananas in a Danish store.
A Tesco spokeswoman has told reporters they are "helping police with their investigations."