14 DAY TRIAL // Two Portuguese women coming from Sao Paulo, Brazil, on different routes were arrested in Madrid's Barajas airport after security officers discovered they had drugs worth almost $250,000 (€180,000) under their fake, but realistic, wigs.
The two Portuguese smugglers, aged 18 and 28, each had almost 2.7 pounds (1.2 kilograms) of cocaine hidden in six packages under their fake hair. The packages containing illegal drugs were concealed with tape on their heads underneath curly realistic wigs.
The packages were carefully placed on their heads and concealed in black socks and locks of hair in order to make them imperceptible. This kind of method has worked several times and smugglers successfully delivered drugs from one country to another via airplanes without being caught because of the natural look of the disguise.
“This new method of smuggling narcotics is very elaborate and difficult to detect due to the realism of the fake hair. The packages were perfectly adhered and did not stick out from under the wigs, which made the narcotics imperceptible,” the joint-statement of the Guardia Civil police and Spain's interior ministry said, according to Metro News.
The two women had a very well-thought plan going on as they boarded from the same location but on different airplanes and with different routes, but ending at the same destination, Spain's capital city. In 2012 alone, Spanish authorities seized more than 20 tonnes of cocaine, almost 41 per cent of Europe's total drug quantity confiscated that year.
Smugglers have been trying to move drugs around countries in many ways, some more creative than others and some incredibly painful, like the case of a woman traveling from Bogota, Colombia to Spain with bags of cocaine implanted in her breasts.
The bags, containing 3 pounds (1.337 kilograms) of illegal drugs were discovered after the woman was taken into a room for a strip search and the female agent handling the case noticed bloody bandages under her breasts. When the bandages were taken off the bags were visible and the woman was rushed to a hospital to have them removed.