A police investigation has been completed after grocery stores in Kelowna and West Kelowna got a bizarre surprise when their banana shipments arrived.
Inside the boxes holding the fruit was enough "nearly pure" cocaine to produce about 800,000 doses of crack cocaine.
The RCMP, working with Canada Border Service Agency (CBSA), has now said it believes the drugs arrived in the Central Okanagan by accident after being shipped from Colombia.
Officers seized 21 packages of cocaine, each weighing about a kilogram each, after the grocery stores called authorities on Feb. 24, 2019.
“Our investigation leads us to believe these illicit drugs were not meant to end up in the Central Okanagan, and arrived here in the Okanagan Valley as a result of a missed pickup at some point along the way,” Cpl. Jeff Carroll said.
Police added that the cocaine was “nearly pure” and would have gone a long way on the black market when cut with other agents.
There was enough of the drug “for every resident in the City of Kelowna to receive nearly six doses each,” police explained, adding: “These two seizures in the BC Southern interior no doubt saved precious lives across Canada.”
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