Cocaine with a street value of about £235,000 has been found hidden inside fresh pineapples by Spanish police.

The 67kg (148lb) haul was seized at Madrid's main wholesale fruit and vegetable market, MercaMadrid.

Cylinders of the narcotic were neatly slotted into the hollowed-out fruit skin and covered in yellow wax to look like pineapple flesh.

Image: The 67kg haul was found inside dozens of hollowed-out pineapples. Pic: Policia Nacional

Police said the wax was also used to conceal "odours of the chemical products which the drug contains and avoid its detection".

Officers described the pineapples as: "Perfectly hollowed out and stuffed with compact cylinders," with each fruit containing 800-1,000g of cocaine.


They had to examine them all individually, smashing open each suspect pineapple to reveal the stash.

Dozens of fruits in the shipment - which had arrived at the Portuguese port of Setubal from Costa Rica before being transported to Spain - contained the cylinders of cocaine.

Spanish police first became aware of the operation after busting similar drug operations using the same method of shipment in Portugal and Spain.

Seven people have been arrested under suspicion of being involved in a smuggling ring - three in Madrid and four in Barcelona.