A fruit wholesaler working for Colombian drug cartels stored £24 million of high-grade cocaine in fake bananas packed in his warehouse, a court in London has heard.
David Mais, 50, is said to have had the bananas delivered to his storage facility off the A2 near Rainham in Kent in July 2014.
When police raided the site, they found more than 100kg of the drug - with a 91 per cent purity - hidden in a single pallet among 30, the rest of which stored real bananas. According to Mail Online, the court heard that the drugs had been wrapped in a chemical film to put off snifer dogs, and were found using a “treasure map” sent from Colombia.
Prosecutor Ken Millett said: “This warehouse was leased, managed and run by the defendant in this case, David Mais, whom it seems was operating a legitimate business called EuroDirect, selling fruit to markets and small shops. It was through that ostensibly legitimate business that the drugs had been imported and would then have been distributed.”
Mais, of Rochester, Kent, denies the one count of conspiracy to evade the prohibition upon the importation of a controlled drug of class A. The trial continues.
