A Colombian man attracted the attention of Spanish authorities last month when he passed through the security checkpoint at Barcelona International Airport wearing a disproportionately large hairpiece. The 65-year-old was visibly nervous as he arrived off a flight from Bogota, according to police—his tremendous toupee protruding from beneath his hat—and so they pulled him aside to investigate. Upon closer inspection, they discovered that he was hiding $47,000 worth of cocaine underneath his wig.
The man—whose identity has not been made public—was immediately detained after authorities checked the parcel of drugs and found it full of white powder. Tests later revealed that the package contained half a kilo of coke, The Washington Post reports. The smuggler has been charged with a crime against public health, according to local newspaper La Vanguardia.
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Photos from the scene confirm that the lofty hairpiece was indeed eye-catching—but it was the man’s weak poker face that ultimately gave him away, according to Spanish National Police Corps. An officer told La Vanguardia that the man’s “toupee was very curious, but the agents there are very expert and pay attention to the attitude. They were very impressed by how nervous he was when he passed the security checkpoint.”
“There is no limit to the inventiveness of drug traffickers trying to mock controls,” the police added in a statement—which we already know is true, because last year this guy tried to smuggle cocaine inside a fake butt.
In that case, police reportedly spotted a 32-year-old man as he waddled suspiciously around Lisbon’s airport and stopped him for questioning. When they got a closer look they realised the man was sporting a giant, flesh-coloured booty that he’d rigged inside a tiny, colourful swimsuit—and the cheeks were packed with cocaine.
Other notable drug smuggling methods from recent memory include these balls of weed disguised as limes, these fresh pineapples full of coke, and these cock-shaped candles containing millions of dollars’ worth of meth.
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