Logistics worker, 39, tied to cocaine found among bananas sent to Lidl stores in May
Police arrested a 39-year-old Dordrecht man on suspicion of importing illegal drugs into the Netherlands, including batches of cocaine recently discovered at Lidl supermarket branches in both Limburg and Noord-Brabant. A logistics sector employee, the man was taken into custody on the industrial site in Moerdijk, a facility used to process shipping cargo
Several quantities of cocaine were found among banana deliveries that wound up at Lidl locations in Den Bosch, Sint-Oedenrode, and Panningen this past May. The case wound up in the hands of the Port Police within the Zeeland-West-Brabant District.
Dozens of kilograms of cocaine were found hidden in the shipment of bananas, which arrived from Ecuador, according to Omroep Brabant. After cocaine was found at a Lidl shop in Sint-Oedenrode, bananas were completely removed from the shelves due to "delivery problems."
Drugs were found about an hour later in a batch of fruit at the Lidl on Oude Vlijmenseweg in Den Bosch. Police cordoned off the scene and posted armed guards at the loading dock.
"The subsequent investigation revealed that the 39-year-old suspect from Dordrecht may have played a role in this. The external logistics company where the employee in question worked is not involved in the drug smuggling," police said in a statement on Wednesday.
Investigators searched the man's home after his arrest in Moerdijk. "In addition to a sum of €53,000, a passenger car and a motorboat were seized."
While the man worked in the shipping sector, police said the logistics company where he worked was not willingly involved in drug smuggling. "Criminal organizations often need 'help from within' to get cocaine into the Netherlands via the logistics chain," police said in a statement.
"They therefore try to pressure employees in the logistics chain, or government officials, or offer large sums of money to get them to help. The Port Police is investigating whether this was the case in this instance."
