New Zealand makes biggest cocaine bust in banana shipment

AUCKLAND, New Zealand — New Zealand police have made the country’s largest cocaine seizure, with 190 kilograms (418 pounds) of the drug found in a container of bananas shipped from Panama.

New Zealand police and customs officials said Friday that the cocaine was contained in five duffel bags on top of bananas in a shipment which arrived in Auckland from Balboa, Panama, in August.

A 41-year-old man’s been arrested in Sydney after a joint operation with Australia’s Federal Police and its Criminal Intelligence Commission, police in Auckland said.

The bust came after the shipment was identified as suspicious following an investigation into an Australia-based organized crime group, New Zealand police and customs said.