Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Reuters
Reuters
Politics

Montenegro seizes over a tonne of cocaine in bananas shipment

Montenegro police said on Friday they had seized more than a tonne of cocaine, their biggest ever drug bust, concealed in a shipment of bananas and that two people were arrested.

The raid was carried out in Mojanovici, a suburb of the capital Podgorica in the tiny Adriatic country, the national police said in a statement on their Twitter account.

"Montenegrin police and the customs department have seized 1,205 packs of cocaine...in a shipment of bananas... with a total weight of over one tonne," it said.

Montenegro, a NATO member and former Yugoslav republic, is also a European Union membership candidate but before it joins the bloc it must root out organised crime and corruption.

"What a feat of Montenegrin police. We are doing what we have pledged: Montenegro will not be a country of crime," Deputy Prime Minister Dritan Abazovic said in a tweet.

In recent months, Montenegro and neighbouring Serbia, which also aspires to join the EU, have stepped up their fight against organised crime, arresting dozens on suspicion of murders, abductions, drug smuggling and plots to kill rivals and state officials.

(This story corrects to fix grammar in lede paragraph)

(Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.