POUNDS 4.5M COCAINE HAUL FOUND IN BANANA BOXES

Gardai suspect that pounds 4.5m worth of cocaine found in a fruit and
vegetable warehouse in north Co Dublin yesterday was probably transported in
error from Antwerp in Belgium with a cargo of bananas.

Fifty-two kilos of the drug were found by detectives after staff at the
wholesale distribution warehouse contacted them. The drugs were contained in
three boxes that had arrived as part of a large cargo from Antwerp last
month. The cargo originated in Colombia, South America and gardai think the
cocaine was hidden among the fruit as it was being loaded.

It is believed that the weight of the boxes may have aroused suspicions
among staff who were taking boxes off pallets in the wholesaler's warehouse
around lunchtime yesterday. They contacted the Garda in Swords, Co Dublin,
who, on arrival, believed they were dealing with a large shipment of drugs.
They in turn contacted members of the Garda National Drugs Unit based in
Dublin.

The unit visited the warehouse and suspect that the haul, too large for the
Irish market, was left behind in error. One source believes the shipment was
probably meant to have been off-loaded in Antwerp and distributed from there
under cover of the extensive fruit and vegetable distribution network that
operates out of there.

There were no arrests made in Ireland in relation to the haul. Last night it
was thought that a drugs cartel in Europe may have taken delivery of three
boxes of bananas worth a lot less than the pounds 4.5 million at which the
cocaine was valued.

The amount of cocaine discovered dwarfs other seizures this year. In
November, two men were arrested after four kilogrammes of the drug were
seized in Dublin airport. In October three men were arrested with seven
kilogrammes in a Dublin hotel. Ireland's place on the periphery of Europe,
with relatively under-policed waters, has made it a major stopping-off point
for drug smugglers in recent years. There have been several very substantial
drugs finds in boats on or near the coast.

In mid-November cannabis with an estimated value of pounds 15 million was
seized when authorities boarded a Moroccan vessel off the West Cork coast.
In September, last year, a search of a catamaran intercepted at Kinsale
harbour yielded cocaine with a street value of pounds 102 million. In
September, 1996, a suspicious vessel in Cork harbour was reported to customs
and cocaine with a value of pounds 183 million was discovered on board.