MIAMI -- Customs and Border Patrol officials said they have stopped an operation that was trying to smuggle cocaine into the U.S. by hiding it in a shipment of plantains from Ecuador.

Officials found fiberglass plantains filled with about $10,000 worth of cocaine each in the shipment after they detected problems with a manifest from a ship coming from Ecuador.

The Story In Pictures: $8 Million In Cocaine Found In Plantains

When they inspected each plantain on the ship, they found at least eight per box were made of Styrofoam or fiberglass with half a pound of cocaine stored in each.

Agents said they seized about 1,000 pounds of the high quality cocaine, which is worth about $8 million wholesale.

"They went through a great deal of effort to disguise (the cocaine) and when you look a the legitimate plantain ... and you look at the detail of (the fake one), they (look) very, very legitimate," said Thomas Winkowsky, of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. . The agents continued to work Thursday evening to box up and confiscate the fake plantains.

Now that they have located the illegal cargo, U.S. Immigration, Customs and Enforcement agents will begin to investigate to find the people responsible for the drug trafficking operation.