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Greater than 500kg of cocaine has been found in a cargo of espresso beans despatched to a Nespresso manufacturing facility, in accordance with Swiss police.
The authorities had been alerted after workers on the plant in Romont discovered a white powder whereas unloading the sacks, which had simply arrived from Brazil.
Evaluation confirmed the powder was cocaine, with an estimated avenue worth of 50m Swiss francs (£41m).
Head of safety for the area Marc Andrey stated: “For Fribourg, it is undoubtedly a giant seizure, it is actually fairly distinctive.
“I believe it is also one of many greatest seizures in Switzerland.”
Nespresso, which makes the person espresso pods, stated in a press release: “The substance in query didn’t come into contact with any of our merchandise or manufacturing gear used to make our merchandise.
“As a police investigation is below means, we can’t share extra particulars.
“We need to reassure customers that each one our merchandise are secure to devour.”
The seizure comes as a brand new report stated Europe is more and more turning into a hub for manufacturing and trafficking of cocaine to different components of the world, along with being a significant market.
After hashish, cocaine is essentially the most consumed drug in Europe, with tens of millions of customers and gross sales of round €10.5bn (£9bn) in 2020, in accordance with Europol and the European Monitoring Centre for Medicine and Drug Dependancy.
The European market is rising, pushed by larger manufacturing in South America and the elevated functionality to course of the uncooked drug in Europe itself, the businesses stated.
Cocaine imported into Europe from South America is more and more re-exported to different components of the world, notably the Center East and Asia, making Europe “a key trans-shipment level for medication originating elsewhere”, the report added.
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