German police incinerate cocaine worth €270 million in huge operation

Bavarian riot police were involved in “Operation Snow Melt”.   –   Copyright  Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/dpa/dpa via AP

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Police in Germany’s Bavaria region said they have destroyed a haul of cocaine with a street value of around €270 million.

Some 1.5 metric tons of the drug were incinerated in the force’s biggest such operation, police said on Wednesday.

Authorities said the drugs were burned on Tuesday under heavy security at an undisclosed facility in the south of Bavaria.

The incineration, which police dubbed “Operation Snow Melt,” has destroyed cocaine seized in various investigations over recent years.

In one of those cases, nearly 200 kilograms of the drugs were found hidden in crates of bananas by employees at 10 Bavarian supermarkets in September 2017.

“Cocaine is a highly dangerous narcotic with which unscrupulous and well-organised offenders earn a lot of money,” said Harald Pickert, President of the Bavarian State Criminal Police Office.