Summary
The Dominican Republic seized a record 9.5 tonnes of cocaine, worth $250 million, in a banana shipment at Santo Domingo’s Caucedo port.
The drugs, shipped from Guatemala and destined for Belgium, mark the country’s largest drug bust, surpassing a 2006 seizure of 2.6 tonnes.
Authorities detained ten suspects and highlighted increasing trafficking activity through the Caribbean.
Analysts at InSight Crime warn the region is becoming a key smuggling route for cocaine to Europe, where demand has more than doubled since 2011, leveraging the Dominican Republic’s major transport hubs.
Apparent price of cocaine math:
9.5tons × 2,000lbs = 19,000lbs
$250mil ÷ 19,000lbs = $13,158 per lb
$13,158 ÷ 16 = $822 per oz
$822 ÷ 3 = $274 per teaspoon of cocaine
“How much could a banana cost? $274 dollars?”
Remember kids, there’s always money in the banana stand.
There’s something horribly offensive about the way the units were converted in this example
I apologize for NOTHING
You’re a bad person and you should feel ashamed. Especially given the current season. Repent or the ghosts of measurements past present and future will be paying you a visit soon.
In units of actual drugs: 9,500kg $250m
$263/gram Street price in Australia, maybe, but extremely overestimated. Assuming they cut it, likely closer to $150/g in the street upon distribution in Europe.
I don’t know a lot about recreational drugs or street drugs, but aren’t they made less pure at the final destination?
Edit: very cursory reading puts cocaine at around 65% pure, which means about $600 per ounce?