A Colombian man was detained at Barcelona's international airport after half a kilogram of cocaine was found hidden under an oversized toupee, Spanish police said on Tuesday.

Police said the man, arriving on a flight from Bogota, attracted police attention as he looked nervous and had a disproportionately large hairpiece under his hat.

They found a package stuck to his head they allege contains cocaine worth about 30,000 euros ($43,900 Cdn).

"There is no limit to the inventiveness of drug traffickers trying to mock controls," said the police statement.

The statement enclosed a photo of a middle-aged man — apparently still wearing the toupee though with his eyes blocked out in the image — but gave no more details of his identity.

Over 100 kg of cocaine were seized by Spanish police at the Barcelona-El Prat airport in 2018.

The Colombian was detained at the end of June.