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THE LOCAL LIST

CRIME

Top ten weird Spanish drug busts

When it comes to smuggling drugs into and around Spain, some people get very creative indeed. In this week's The Local List, we smoke out some of the strangest methods seen by the nation's narcotics police.

Top ten weird Spanish drug busts
One smuggler packed his drugs stash into bags of frozen meat. File photo: Robert S. Donovan/Flickr

Spain is the main gateway into Europe for cocaine and hashish and people are constantly trying to make a quick dollar (or euro) by smuggling these drugs into the country.

"Traffickers have money on their side, a lack of scruples and they can develop their activities without limit," said Jose Antonio Rodriguez, the head of the anti-cocaine squad of Spain's national police force recently.

But Spain's cops are also a dedicated bunch.

Check out The Local List of Spain's top ten weirdest drug busts.

A recent International Narcotics Control Board study showed that 27 of the total 35 tonnes of cannabis plants coming into Europe were detected in Spain in 2010.

For cocaine, meanwhile, 25 of the total 60 tonnes intercepted in Europe were in this country.

In this week's The Local List, we take a look at some of losers in the drug traffic business.

Some of these smuggling ideas are simply hair-brained, others are ingenious and yet others seem doomed to fail from the start.

Look at our gallery to find out more about Spain's top ten weirdest drug busts

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CRIME

Dutch woman arrested over shooting of right-wing Spanish politician

A Dutch woman was arrested in the Netherlands in relation to an attack on a right-wing Spanish politician who was shot in Madrid, Spanish police said on Tuesday.

Dutch woman arrested over shooting of right-wing Spanish politician

Alejo Vidal-Quadras, a founder of Spain’s far-right Vox party, was shot in the face in broad daylight near his home in the upscale Salamanca neighbourhood on November 9 by a motorcycle passenger.

Long a supporter of the Iranian opposition, the 78-year-old Vidal-Quadras has accused the Iranian regime of involvement in the shooting.

Four people had already been arrested as part of the investigation into the shooting, but the suspected gunman — a French national of Tunisian origin with several previous convictions in France — remains at large.

“A woman was arrested in Holland for her alleged participation in the financing and preparation of the attack on Vidal-Quadras,” the national police said in a brief statement.

Police said she was detained after Spain issued a European arrest warrant.

Vidal-Quadras was a member and then vice-president of the European Parliament between 1994 and 2014.

He was also a former head of the centre-right People’s Party in Catalonia.

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