MOSCOW, July 16. /TASS/. The Russian Federal Customs Service (FCS) in cooperation with the Federal Security Service (FSB) have seized 820 kg of cocaine with an estimated black market value of over 12 billion rubles ($153 mln), the customs press service reported.

"Federal Customs Service officers, in coordination with the Federal Security Service, detained the largest shipment of Latin American drugs this year during an attempted import into Russia. A total of 820 kg of cocaine, worth over 12 billion rubles on the Russian black market, was removed from illegal circulation," the statement read.

The press service noted that the operation was launched after intel revealed that a South American criminal group was planning to establish a cocaine smuggling channel into Russia. Customs authorities then implemented round-the-clock monitoring of cargo arriving from Latin America in order to verify the information.

"Thanks to the FCS’s customs control measures and operational risk management system, the information provided by our international colleagues was confirmed and allowed us to trace the drugs to a legal shipment of Ecuadorian bananas transported in sea refrigerators," the agency reported.

According to the FCS, inspections using a designated screening system and sniffer dogs revealed a handmade compartment beneath the floor of one banana container. A close examination of the unregistered cargo within the compartment led to the discovery and confiscation of 820 packages of a white-colored substance. "Laboratory tests confirmed that the powdery substance containing crystals with a specific odor was cocaine, totaling over 820 kg," the authorities explained.

The Baltic customs office has now opened a criminal case into the incident of drug smuggling on a particularly large scale under article 229.1 part 4 (b) of the Russian criminal code. The offense carries a penalty of up to life in prison.