More than a dozen packets of cocaine were strapped to the toupee, protected by a plastic coat.
“Through profiling, they found an individual who intended to board a flight from Cartagena to Amsterdam,” Gelver Yecid Pena Araque, a police commander, said in a statement.
“This individual was profiled by one of our experts … then, after a scan and body search, a wig was found, which contained more than 220 grams of cocaine that he intended to take to the Netherlands. With this, criminal profits took a hit.”
Colombia is a primary cocaine trafficking producer to North America and Europe, with production jumping to 2600 tonnes – an all-time high – in 2023.
Colombia has spent decades fighting against drug trafficking. In November, Colombian authorities, working with dozens of countries, seized 225 tonnes of cocaine in six weeks, a global record for any single anti-drugs operation.
However, Gustavo Petro, the country’s President, recently said the drug was “no worse than whiskey” and said it was only illegal because it was produced in Latin America.
“Scientists have analysed this … if you want peace, you have to dismantle the business [of drug trafficking],” he said on February 6. “It could easily be dismantled if they legalise cocaine in the world. It would be sold like wine.”
