Uncovering a drug-smuggling operation with a French connection, workers at a Coca-Cola factory in southern France this week found a huge cache of cocaine worth approximately $56 million in a shipment of orange juice concentrate, according to a report of The New York Times. The factory, which is in the town of Signes, near the Mediterranean coast, produces concentrates for various drinks. A spokesman for Coca-Cola France said that employees notified the police and that the authorities had started an investigation, The Associated Press reported. The drug was hidden in bags among a delivery of orange juice concentrate and amounted to 370 kilograms, making it one of the largest such discoveries on French soil, the BBC reported. The shipment arrived in a container from South America. The prosecutor of Toulon, Xavier Tarabeux, called the find “a very bad surprise” and said it had a street value of 50 million euros, or about $56 million.
Sacks containing the drugs were hidden in a shipping container holding orange juice which arrived at the factory on Aug 26. The Marseille prosecutor's office said on Wednesday it had opened an investigation into trafficking and importing illegal drugs. “The first elements of the investigation have shown that employees are in no way involved,” Jean-Denis Malgras, the company’s regional president, told the news website Var-Matin. Coca leaves were reportedly used in the original Coca-Cola drink in the 19th century, although the company has said cocaine has never been an “added ingredient”.