The used piano sent from Chile and destined for Spain raised suspicions during a stopover in Frankfurt. It contained several packages of cocaine – worth €2.5 million on the street – in the body of the instrument inside a fibreglass case.
“To ship a seemingly not very valuable piano by plane halfway around the globe isn’t the economically sensible thing to do,” said customs spokesman Andreas Urbaniak. “Simply the method of transport raised our suspicions.”
Two men aged 46 and 51 were later arrested in Madrid in coordination with Spanish police.