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Volunteers from Ángeles Malagueños de la Noche collect the fruit.
Charities benefit from the bananas used to hide the drugs

Charities benefit from the bananas used to hide the drugs

Los Ángeles Malagueños de la Noche loaded a van with the fruit for the 600 people they help every day

Alvaro FRÍAS / Juan CANO

Friday, 26 October 2018, 08:51

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There was a steady stream of people coming and going on Wednesday morning at the unit on the Santa Teresa industrial estate where, just hours earlier, the authorities had seized the second biggest haul of cocaine in the history of Spain.

They weren't carrying drugs: the boxes they were hugging contained bananas. The gang of drug traffickers had hidden the haul of over 6,000 kilos of cocaine among the fruit. When the police had removed the drugs, they said the owner of the warehouse could do what he liked with the bananas, so as soon as they had left he picked up the phone and started ringing around local charities to say that tonnes of the fruit were there for the asking, if they could use them.

The response was immediate. Bancosol were interested, and Ángeles Malagueños de la Noche went straight there to collect several boxes. "It's fantastic that they contacted us. This will help the 600 people we provide food for every day," said Antonio Meléndez, president of the organisation, as he and his team loaded up the fruit.

Nor were the charities alone. Workers on the industrial estate, when they realised what was going on, also asked whether they could take a box of bananas home.

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