A 65-year-old man who wanted to smuggle more than a pound of cocaine into Spain was arrested after police discovered his amazing and hilarious hiding place: under his toupee.
The man, who hailed from Colombia and had flown in from Bogota, had half a kilogram of cocaine, worth roughly $34,000, when he was arrested in June, CNN reported. According to Reuters, “He was rumbled by police officers who noticed him looking nervous as he passed through security after flying in from Bogota.” Reuters added that a police statement said, “There is no limit to the inventiveness of drug traffickers trying to mock controls.”
LaVanguardia reported that the man was charged with a crime against public health.
There have been other strange methods of smuggling drugs into Europe; the BBC noted, “A Brazilian man made an outlandish bid to smuggle drugs into Portugal in 2018 and was arrested at Lisbon’s international airport, accused of carrying 1kg (2.2lb) of cocaine inside a pair of fake buttocks.”
The Washington Post noted, “More cocaine is seized in Spain than in any other European country, according to news outlet El Pais, which said interceptions of the drug in the nation have grown by 5,000 percent between 1987 and 2018. Spanish officials have sought to work with other countries to curb smuggling.”
El Pais reported earlier this year that the chief of the Central Narcotics Brigade, Antonio Duarte, said, “Spain is still the second-biggest consumer of cocaine in Europe, lagging only behind the United Kingdom.” The mayor of Vilagarcía de Arousa echoed, ““There is drug trafficking all over Spain. And sure, there are still drug traffickers here, but on a smaller scale. And they are also more discreet.”
Duarte continued, “Their biggest concern is being talked about, but in Galicia they are still the masterminds, the ones who have the links to the Colombians. The Galicians are the only ones who the Colombians can give huge quantities of cocaine to in a boat. The Galicians organize everything. They take their cut at sea in the form of cocaine, and bring it to Galicia. The rest of the shipment is handed over to other buyers in Madrid, Barcelona, and Rotterdam, to be distributed across Europe.”