MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Russia said Wednesday it had seized 820 kilograms (1,800 pounds) of cocaine hidden under a shipment of bananas, calling it its largest bust of drugs from Latin America this year.

Cocaine smuggling into Russia has surged over the past two years, according to Russia’s Izvestia newspaper.

Drug traffickers are increasingly looking to the country as a transit hub, in part because the Ukrainian port of Odesa has become inaccessible due to Russia’s offensive, the paper said.

Russia’s customs service, working jointly with the FSB security service, said it had uncovered a batch worth “more than 12 billion rubles (US$153 million)” stashed in banana containers.

The cocaine packages — disguised in briquettes bearing the label of a French luxury fashion brand — were discovered in a “hidden cavity” under the bananas, it added.

It carried out the bust after a tip-off from “foreign colleagues about the intention of a South American criminal group to organise a smuggling channel for cocaine supplies to Russia”.

It said an investigation had been opened into large-scale drug trafficking, a charge that in Russia carries maximum penalty of life imprisonment.

Russia has a zero-tolerance policy towards drug use and smuggling, handing heavy sentences to those convicted of trafficking small amounts of narcotics — including foreigners.