A 40-year-old Colombian man has been arrested after attempting to smuggle 19 cocaine capsules under his wig at an airport.
Colombian police said the man had stashed €10,000 (£8,295)-worth of the drug under his toupee while trying to board a flight from Cartagena to Amsterdam.
Video released of the arrest showed officers first examining a scan of the man’s body at Rafael Nunez International Airport before removing his wig, revealing multiple packets containing white powder.
These tested positive for cocaine, a police spokesperson said, with around 220 grams of the drug seized.
The man, from the Colombian city of Pereira, has been arrested on suspicion of drug trafficking, drug manufacturing and carrying narcotics, the country’s national police said.
The detained man has two court records for the crime of drug trafficking, a spokesperson added.
The commander of the Metropolitan Police of Cartagena, Brigadier General Gelver Yecid Peña Araque, said more than 450 people have been arrested so far this year for drug trafficking and more than 115 kilos of hallucinogens have been seized, including cannabis and and cocaine.
“We are dealing decisive blows against these criminal structures that not only fight over local drug trafficking, but are also the generators of different violent acts and other types of crimes that disrupt peace and coexistence,” he said.
“We continue to insist on the importance of the community being our main ally, providing timely information that helps us identify and locate criminals.”
