Police dogs sniff out over 6 tons of cocaine hidden in banana shipment headed for Europe

Police dogs in Ecuador helped find more than six tons of cocaine hidden in a banana shipment headed to Germany, officials announced this week, marking yet another major seizure of drugs concealed alongside the tropical fruit.

National police were carrying out a routine inspection of banana export containers at the Deep Water Maritime Port in Posorja when sniffer dogs alerted officers to the presence of narcotics, the prosecutor-general's office said in a news release Monday. Officials opened the containers and ultimately found 5,630 brick-shaped packages hidden under the fruit, totaling 6.23 tons of cocaine.

The shipment was destined for Germany, officials said, and had a street value of $224 million. Five people were arrested following the discovery, according to the prosecutor-general's office, which released an image of the drugs alongside gun-toting officers and two police dogs. Some of the bricks of cocaine featured a "911" logo on the front.