Agents from Spain's Civil Guard, working in conjunction with the country's tax authorities, have made three arrests at the Adolfo Suárez airport in the capital, after seizing a shipment of fresh coconuts from Colombia into which 50kg of liquid cocaine had been injected.
The operation began with a customs risk analysis at the Madrid-Barajas airport, carried out by Customs surveillance agents working for the tax authorities and then continued in conjunction with the Guardia Civil's tax specialists.
Both sets of operatives, working independently of each other, detected a suspicious shipment of fresh coconuts coming in from Colombia and decided to pool resources to look into it further, applying the strictest of tax measures to the shipment.
The scam was revealed after airport scanners showed unusual density inside some of the coconuts.
The discovery led to the arrest of those receiving the goods, a Venezuelan woman and two Colombian men, all of whom have been charged with endangering public health.
A tiny hole had been bored into the top of the coconuts and their natural juice had been extracted with a syringe and replaced with liquid cocaine. They had then been resealed with a resin the same colour as the coconut in attempt to disguise the process.
The 902kg shipment contained both fresh coconuts and bananas. Only one 'doctored' coconut had been placed into each of the 65 boxes of coconuts, so as not to raise suspicions.
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