General News of Thursday, 26 March 2009

Source: AFP

Made in Ghana: $37m illegal drugs hidden in pineapples

German customs stumbled across 28 million euros (37 million dollars) worth of illegal drugs hidden amongst seven tonnes of pineapples in Hamburg harbour, officials said yesterday.

“While unloading a ship from Ghana, we came across a container full of pineapples meant to be delivered to a fashion boutique in Western Germany,” custom official, Dietmar Schulze said.

“It seemed bizarre that a clothing store would order 15 tonnes of pineapples so we launched an investigation.”

Scanning and searching the container revealed that it contained five and a half tonnes of marihuana as well as 18 kilograms hashish—both preparations of cannabis. Schulze said it was the biggest drug bust for more than 15 years.