Cocaine has been discovered in 12 supermarkets across two police districts in Denmark, North Zealand Police and Mid and West Zealand Police, as part of an ongoing narcotics investigation linked to banana shipments. The National Unit for Special Crime (NSK) confirmed the findings, which occurred in Coop chain stores on Monday and Tuesday.

The Coop chain is cooperating with the police in the investigation. The discovery of the narcotics prompted authorities to initiate cooperation with Europol.

An employee of Coop was taken into custody on Wednesday following the discovery of a kilogram of cocaine in the trunk of his car in Højby in Odsherred. The court hearing regarding the employee was held behind closed doors, and it remains uncertain whether this incident is connected to the larger case.

While NSK has acknowledged the discovery of a “large quantity” of cocaine, the police unit has not released the exact number of kilos found, citing the ongoing investigation. The smuggling of cocaine from South America to Europe within banana shipments is not a novel method, with past incidents including the discovery of 95 kilos of cocaine in a box of bananas in a German discount supermarket last year, and 134 kilos of narcotics found in a banana shipment to Norway in December 2023.