Italian police seize cocaine hidden in banana shipment

Italian police said on Tuesday that they had seized pure cocaine with an estimated street value of 250 million euros, or $286 million, at a port in northwest Italy.

Police said about 770 kilograms, or 1,700 pounds, of cocaine was hidden in a refrigerated container from Ecuador among dozens of pallets of bananas at the port of Vado Ligure.

Authorities have increased monitoring of Vado Ligure as a possible transit point for international drug trafficking after an earlier seizure at the same port. Investigators said the port's growing role as a European trade hub also makes it an attractive target for criminal networks involved in illicit activity.

Police earlier this month seized 340 kilograms of cocaine with an estimated street value of 120 million euros at the same port.