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Munich / Antwerp / Brussels (dpa) - The police in Bavaria, together with Belgian colleagues, smashed an international drug cartel.

In 20 apartment searches in Antwerp, Belgium, and the capital, Brussels, 17 people were arrested, and a total of 187 kilograms of cocaine and several hundred thousand euros were confiscated, the Bavarian State Criminal Police Office said.

Among the suspects arrested last week, two men were strongly suspected of mediating between South American drug cartels and European buyers, it said.

The investigation began when a total of around 200 kilograms of cocaine was discovered in banana boxes in ten Bavarian supermarkets in 2017.

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The trail of the Bavarian investigators led to South America, where drug dealers had hidden the drug in banana boxes that were then shipped to Europe.

According to investigators, the port of the Belgian city of Antwerp played a key role in the distribution of the drug.

According to information from Munich, around 1200 kilograms of cocaine were seized in 2018 and 14 people involved in drug smuggling were convicted.

© dpa-infocom, dpa: 201221-99-771900 / 3