A German court handed down lengthy prison sentences on Monday to six men found guilty of smuggling almost 500 kilograms of cocaine into the country in banana crates.
Five of the men were caught in December 2019 after they had broken into a banana ripening facility in Neu-Ulm in the southern state of Bavaria. A sixth man was able to flee.
The court found that the group were to deliver the drugs to a criminal organization. Sentences of seven years were handed to two of the men, and of six years to the other four.
While the men confessed their part in the crime, the origin of the cocaine and where it was destined remain unclear.
Ahead of the trial, prosecutors said they believed that the cocaine, which has an estimated street value of around 20 million euros (22 million dollars), was delivered by lorry to a fruit wholesaler in Neu-Ulm.
An employee there discovered a few of the cocaine packages and alerted the police, who left the drugs in place and set a trap for the gang.
