US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) seized this past week 45 kilograms of cocaine at the Port of Wilmington, Delaware, hidden in a shipment of Costa Rican pineapple destined to Clifton, NJ, USA.

“Part of CBP’s mission is to prevent illicit narcotics from entering the U.S. utilizing all the resources at our disposal – technology, K9s, CBP officers, and our law enforcement partners,” said Casey Durst, CBP’s Field Operations Director in Baltimore. “This interception is a great example of the results we can accomplish working with our partners across the law enforcement community”, states the press release.

The pineapple originated from the county of San Carlos, and was hidden in the bottom of cardboard boxes that contained the fruit. The name of the exporting company was not revealed by the authorities.

A K9 unit alerted to the shipment which was then inspected by the CBP Wilmington Advanced Targeting Unit (ATU), U.S. Coast Guard targeting unit and Delaware National Guard Counter -Drug Taskforce.

CBP routinely conducts random inspection operations on international passengers and cargo and searches for narcotics, unreported currency, weapons, prohibited agriculture, and other illicit products.

This past Sunday, Spain’s National Police seized 67 kilograms of cocaine hidden in a pineapple cargo that also originated from Costa Rica; and back in August 14 the Costa Rican police seized 133 kg of the same drug hidden between pineapple boxes in a shipment destined to Ireland.