A joint operation by the Tax Agency and the Guardia Civil

• The drug was traveling in a consignment from the Dominican Republic declared as fresh fruit

• The agents located the 'lost hook' in the inspections that are carried out daily at the Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas airport

December 5, 2023.- Within the framework of the devices established at the Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas airport, Customs Surveillance officials of the Tax Agency and agents of the Civil Guard, have achieved intercept 530 kilos of cocaine that was traveling hidden in a shipment of fresh fruit from the Dominican Republic.

The intervention took place last Saturday, December 2, within the framework of the inspections carried out on the merchandise that arrives in our country through the international airport, after detecting possible manipulation in a consignment declared as fresh fruit when it was processed. clearance by the Customs Authorities.

The batch, made up of three pallets that housed 38 boxes of avocados, had a total weight of 2,268 kilos. In all the boxes there was one of the packages containing drugs.

Lost hook' or 'rip off'

This method is used by traffickers to try to introduce large quantities of drugs into the airport of origin, without the knowledge of the importing and exporting companies. They look for shipments of merchandise from legal import companies with a constant flow of shipments seeking to go unnoticed by customs guards.

Once the merchandise reaches the destination point, they have people who remove the merchandise before it is shipped, managing to obtain a large amount of drugs without taking risks.

Customs Surveillance officials from the Tax Agency and Civil Guard agents from the Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas airport participated in the operation.