What is swiss coffee after the Nestlé cocaine seizure?

An employee at a Nestlé factory in Romont, Switzerland, found an unidentified white powder while unloading a container of coffee beans shipped from Brazil, and police were notified. Forensic analysis confirmed cocaine with purity above 80 percent. Searches of the five Brazilian coffee bean containers delivered that day turned up more than 500 kilograms, valued at over 50 million Swiss francs, roughly 330 million yuan.

Investigators believe a trafficking gang loaded the wrong container, and several customs officers have since been investigated and arrested. The search was completed inside an isolation area so the cocaine never touched the production line. Nestlé said the beans involved would not come into contact with any products or equipment and that factory products remain safe to consume.

Recently, a shocking incident occurred at a Nestlé factory in Romont, Switzerland: while unloading coffee beans from Brazil, workers discovered an unidentified white powder, which police identified as cocaine with a purity exceeding 80%, weighing over 500 kilograms and valued at approximately 330 million yuan. Preliminary police investigations suggest that this was likely caused by a drug trafficking gang loading the wrong container. Similar incidents have occurred domestically before, such as when Shanghai police seized 150 million yuan worth of marijuana on an international cargo ship. How do these mishaps happen? This article will recount the incident and explore the drug trafficking methods behind it.

According to a Reuters report on May 5, an employee at a Nestlé factory in Romont, Switzerland, noticed an unidentified white powder mixed in while unloading a container of coffee beans that had just arrived from Brazil, and immediately notified local police to launch a joint investigation.

After analysis by the police forensic department, it was confirmed that the white powder was cocaine with a purity exceeding 80%. Subsequently, the police searched the five containers of Brazilian coffee beans delivered that day, ultimately seizing over 500 kilograms of cocaine, valued at more than 50 million Swiss francs (approximately 330 million yuan).

Preliminary investigations by local police showed that these five coffee bean containers were shipped from Brazil to Romont, Switzerland. Multiple customs officers have since been investigated and arrested. Investigators also stated that the entire search process was completed within an isolation area set up at the factory to prevent the cocaine from coming into contact with the production line.

Nestlé subsequently stated via email: "The coffee beans involved in this incident will not come into contact with any products or production equipment in the factory. The Swiss police are still conducting an in-depth investigation, and the company cannot disclose more details. However, we assure consumers that products from this factory are safe to consume."

Most similar incidents occur because drug trafficking gangs place drugs in the wrong container, which happens to be loaded into coffee bean shipments bound for Nestlé. It should be clarified that some online reports claim police found cocaine inside the Nestlé factory, but the actual situation is that factory personnel discovered an unidentified white powder while unloading coffee beans and alerted the police, who then seized the cocaine.

Why is it said that this was caused by drug trafficking gangs loading the wrong container? Because such incidents are common... Typically, local drug traffickers bribe port officials to place drugs into containers destined for export. However, due to the huge number of containers at ports and the fact that these operations are mostly conducted at midnight, the personnel involved often have low education levels and do not carefully verify container information, leading to frequent misloadings that send drugs to other places... Similar "mishaps" have occurred domestically before.

On February 9, 2021, the Anti-Drug Division of the Shanghai Public Security Bureau's Criminal Investigation Department received a notice from Interpol via the Ministry of Public Security's Anti-Drug Bureau: an international cargo ship, while stopping at Kingston Port in Jamaica, loaded a container suspected of containing drugs, with the container number ending in 4071. Previously, the ship had docked at ports in six different countries and regions. Despite Interpol issuing a notice requesting interception, it was unsuccessful for various reasons. At that time, the ship was heading to Shanghai, China.

After receiving the notice, Shanghai police immediately formed a special task force with customs authorities to launch an investigation. Under the existing conditions, the task force could not contact the staff of the international shipping company, so they first went to Yangshan Port to learn about the container unloading process from the workers. At 11 a.m. on March 2, 2021, the target ship docked at Yangshan Port Phase I terminal to unload containers. The task force located the container ending in 4071 and confirmed it contained marijuana worth over 150 million yuan.

To determine if there was a recipient for the goods, the task force decided to replace the contents with similar-shaped and weighted substitutes and put them back in the container. Subsequently, container 4071 was placed with other empty containers, and the task force began 24-hour uninterrupted strict surveillance. Ultimately, the one who came to "pick up the goods" turned out to be a chemical company...

After the truck left the terminal, it drove into a logistics park in Pudong. Container 4071 was unloaded, and the truck immediately departed. The system showed that the transport subject of this order was "pesticide dangerous goods," scheduled for customs declaration on March 8 and shipment to Kenya on March 13. However, in the follow-up investigation, police found that the container pickup and delivery processes were random, and the logistics company transporting container 4071 had no suspicious points.

While domestic police were still pondering why this supposedly empty container contained marijuana, Interpol issued an update: two members of an overseas drug trafficking organization were arrested in the United States and Jamaica, respectively, one of whom was an insider working at Kingston Port in Jamaica. They took advantage of the ship's docking to secretly place marijuana into the container, but loaded it into the wrong one... and it ended up in Shanghai... (The chemical company nearly became an innocent victim...)

And this time, the coffee beans received by the Nestlé factory contained cocaine, making them an innocent victim as well... Many netizens commented after reading the report that their Nestlé coffee no longer tasted good... But don't worry, after all, Nestlé wouldn't engage in such a losing business.

Image source: Internet, screenshots from Kankan News

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The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.