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Prosecutors suspend probe into cocaine seizure at Swiss Nespresso factory

Cow in front of the Nespresso plant in Romont
The drugs were discovered at the Romont Nespresso factory by workers unloading bags of coffee beans on May 2 and the police were informed immediately. A subsequent search of five shipping containers turned up more than 500kg of cocaine. KEYSTONE

Swiss prosecutors have issued a stay of proceedings suspending an investigation into the seizure last year of over 500kg of cocaine concealed in a container shipped from Brazil to the Nespresso factory in the town of Romont in western Switzerland.

Proceedings may be resumed if new facts emerge, the Office of the Attorney General of canton Fribourg said on Wednesday. It had opened an investigation in May 2022.

+ Half a tonne of cocaine seized at Swiss Nespresso factory

The cocaine was not destined for Nespresso, the office said. It was without the company’s knowledge that the drug was introduced into the shipment, the statement said. “In all likelihood, the drugs should have been unloaded between Antwerp and Romont,” it said.

However, the operation could not be carried out for an unknown reason. The identification of the people involved in this transport has therefore remained fruitless to date.

+ Why Swiss cities dominate the cocaine hit parade

Despite the stay of proceedings, investigations are still being carried out under the jurisdiction of the Brazilian judicial authorities.

This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. You can find them here

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