Hiding Cocaine in Pineapples Is the Latest Drug-Smuggling Trend

When it comes to trafficking drugs, you’ve got to be imaginative. Here at MUNCHIES, we're certainly not experts in innovative transportation of narcotics across borders, but boy, have we written a thing or two about the ingenious ways to try. There was that story about the lollipops individually filled with crystal meth, the shipment of bananas hiding 800 grams of cocaine, and the meth hidden inside tubs of fried chicken batter from a New Mexico fast food chain. (We might have made that last one up.)

A new level of drug-smuggling creativity was reached this week when hundreds of grams of cocaine were found hidden inside pineapple skins. Portuguese and Spanish police busted 745 grams of the powder as part of an ongoing investigation. Almost one tonne of the drug was found covered in yellow wax and disguised inside the hollow fruit en route from Panama to Europe.

As reported by ABC News, the police investigation into this particular drug-shipping network began in April 2016, focusing on a Colombian drugs cartel. The bust not only uncovered loads of gak inside tropical fruit, but also led police to drug labs in Madrid containing hydraulic presses and 400,000 Euros in cash.

In a press release, Spanish and Portuguese police forces explained that the drug trafficking organisation, run by two Columbian brothers, “had repeatedly brought large quantities of cocaine to the European continent.”

Well, you can’t say they weren’t creative about it.