Berlin Aldi Staff Find 140kg of Cocaine in Banana Boxes

German police have found 140kg of cocaine hidden in banana boxes at a number of Aldi supermarkets in Berlin.

Staff at the one of the discount stores branches in the German capital alerted authorities after they discovered the suspicious load while unpacking some banana crates.

Cocaine was soon discovered inside banana boxes delivered to at least another six Aldi supermarkets in the Berlin area.

Police said the cocaine was worth a total street value of about €6m (£5m), making it the second largest drugs bust in Berlin since the dedicated drug investigation department was set up 26 years ago.

Two police officers wearing a headscarf posed for pictures next to the confiscated cocaine at a press conference.

The banana/cocaine cargo was part of a shipment from Colombia and police believe it entered Germany via the port of Hamburg.

Customs police said the haul of drugs most likely arrived in Berlin due to a glitch in the traffickers' plans.

For some reason smugglers failed to pick up their cargo after it was unloaded from a ship and dropped off at a storage facility at the port. The 'bananas' were then eventually delivered to Aldi.

In a similar bust in 2009, police in the Bavarian city of Munich seized 28 kilos of cocaine that were hidden amid bananas delivered to a local branch of discount chain Lidl.

In that instance the drug load also originated from Colombia and was discovered by a surprised supermarket employee.