ROMONT, Switzerland — Swiss police seized more than 500 kg of cocaine from a Nespresso plant after a suspicious shipment of coffee beans arrived.
Staff at the Nespresso factory in Romont alerted police Monday night after finding a white substance while they were unloading bags of coffee beans that had just arrived from Brazil, Reuters reported.
Police said that their analysis revealed the substance was cocaine, and a search for five shipping containers delivered the same day “allowed for the seizure of more than 500 kilos (1,103 pounds) of this drug,” Fribourg police told CBS News.
In an emailed statement to Reuters, Nespresso said, “The substance in question did not come into contact with any of our products or production equipment to make our products. … We want to reassure consumers that all our products are safe to consume.”
The cocaine was determined to be 80% pure, and was estimated to have a street value over 50 million Swiss francs ($51 million), CBS News reported.
“It’s definitely a big seizure for the canton of Fribourg, one can say an extraordinary catch,” Marc Andrey, head of security for the area, told the BBC.
Police said that the drugs appeared to be heading for the European market, CBS News reported.
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