Child drug trafficking ring bust

2011-11-28 14:37

Madrid - Police busted a drug gang that used babies and small children to smuggle cocaine from South America through European airports, Spanish officials said on Monday.

Police in Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands arrested 20 suspects including traffickers who arrived on flights with large amounts of cocaine hidden about them while travelling with children to avert suspicion.

"They used minors as a cover so as not to raise suspicion and also to hide the drugs among their nappies" in their baggage, the statement said.

"They were flying from South America with quantities of narcotics varying from one to five kilograms."

Police arrested 16 people at various airports in Spain, and two each in Belgium and the Netherlands and seized 11 kilograms of cocaine, the statement said.

One Spanish couple arrested in the Netherlands were carrying 1.5 kilos of cocaine attached to their bodies and hidden among their baby's nappies in their luggage.

The smuggling ring involved members in Zaragoza, northern Spain and flights to Amsterdam's Schiphol airport and Madrid's Barajas airport.

- AFP