Plantains used in cocaine smuggling bid, reveals UK Border Force

Smugglers stuffed cocaine worth £750,000 into hollowed out plantains in a consignment of fruit and vegetables, the UK Border Force said today.

A 7.5kg haul of the class A drug was seized at Heathrow on Tuesday on a flight from Ghana.

The banana-like fruits had been hollowed out, filled with packages of cocaine and resealed.

Border staff believe the same smuggling gang were behind a 1.5-tonne consignment of cannabis discovered the previous day, also on a flight of fruit and vegetables from Ghana.

That haul had a street value of around £4.3 million.

Marc Owen, Heathrow director for Border Force, said: "It seems likely that the same criminal gangs were involved in both of these two smuggling attempts. This means that in just two days we have put a £5 million dent in their profits.

"These two seizures demonstrate the success we're having in disrupting criminal smugglers and keeping illegal drugs off the streets of the UK."

The cannabis seizure was the biggest at Heathrow Airport in more than three years.