SARAJEVO, Jan 14 (Reuters) - Montenegrin police have seized nearly half a tonne of cocaine hidden in a shipment of bananas from Ecuador and estimated to be worth 20 million euros ($22.9 million), a top customs official and a special prosecutor said on Friday.
An investigation found that a criminal group with members in Slovenia, Ecuador and Montenegro organised the shipment of drugs, special prosecutor Miroslav Turkovic told a news conference in Montenegro's capital Podgorica.
He said one of the group, a Montenegrin working for an international shipping company, had redirected the container with the drugs to a trade company in Podgorica, and that the prosecutors have filed criminal charges against him.
"This was a very well planned international criminal action," Turkovic said.
Milena Petricevic, acting director of the Administration for customs and revenues, said the drugs were first discovered by a customs official in the port of Bar, who reported the find to his superiors.
The Administration then informed the police and prosecutors who followed the cargo and seized it, she said.
The prosecutors suspect the group has smuggled about 3 tonnes of cocaine, worth hundreds of millions euros, through the Bar Free Customs Zone since the last summer, the chief special prosecutor Milivoj Katnic said. ($1 = 0.8730 euros) (Reporting by Daria Sito-Sucic; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
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