Saturday, January 15, 2011

Inventive criminals

When you are in the drug trafficking business, you have to be imaginative and try every which way to try and conceal your drugs in order to avoid detection.

In the latest case, Spanish police found 162 kilograms of cocaine which was hidden in plastic bananas. The imitation bananas were concealed in a 20 tonne shipment of real fruit coming in from Guayaquil in Ecuador to the Spanish port of Algeciras.

In another case, a gang of Brits were arrested when police found 20 bricks of cannabis with an estimated street value of 2.5 million pounds sterling hidden inside air conditioning units destined for Britain. The drugs had been stored in an industrial unit near Alicante ready for shipment by lorry across country.

The proximity to Morrocco (a prime source of hashish) and its close ties with its former colonies in South America have made Spain a major gateway for drug trafficking into Europe. It is a real headache for the Spanish police who thankfully do make a lot of progress in trying to halt the process but of course, it is always a game of catch up for them.

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