MADRID
Spanish police seized
200 kilos (440 pounds) of cocaine found inside hollowed-out pineapples
that arrived by ship from Central America, the interior ministry said
Sunday.
The drug-stuffed fruit was
found among 10 shipping containers filled with pineapples that arrived
in the southern port of Algeciras, one of Europe's largest ports, the
ministry said in a statement.
"Among
the thousands of fresh pineapples inside the containers, they found
fruit that had been hollowed out and stuffed with drugs and then covered
with a yellow wax that simulated the colour of pineapple pulp," the
statement said.
The pineapples
arrived from an undisclosed country in Central America and were en route
to two companies, one based in Madrid and the other in Sant Quirze del
Valles, near Barcelona.
Both companies were said to be run by Spanish nationals of Colombian origin.
The police detained three people as part of their investigation and have not ruled out more arrests.
Last
year, police in Algeciras seized 2.5 tonnes of cocaine hidden inside a
shipment of pineapples arriving from Costa Rica — one of the biggest
ever seizures of the drug in Spain.
Spain's
close ties to its former colonies in Latin America have made it a key
entry point for cocaine smuggled across the Atlantic to Europe.
Smugglers have used increasingly ingenious methods to get the drug past Spanish customs.
In
recent years police have found cocaine inside breast implants, a wig, a
plaster cast encasing a man's broken leg as well as inside a 42-piece
crockery set, consisting of bowls, plates and saucers.