Drug smugglers’ ingenious plan to have two tons of hashish “hidden in plain sight” in a cement mixer came unstuck over the weekend after they crossed over the Guadiana bridge from Spain.
Police tracking the operation for the last two months waited for the perfect moment, and then caught the men red-handed.
The load was due to have been transported to Holland.
Logistics involved five men loading the haul at a farm in the Cumeada area.
According to Portuguese police sources, the farm belongs to a “foreign resident” who is currently abroad and had no idea that his property was being used as part of an international drugs’ smuggling operation.
As the men – of Romanian, Dutch and Spanish nationalities – loaded the hashish on to the cement mixer, PJ police officers arrived in force.
The department’s southern region director, Luís Mota Carmo, told reporters that more arrests will now follow in Spain.
The PJ operation was shared with Spanish counterparts who have already arrested two men, he said, but more are likely to be rounded “to completely dismantle the organisation”.
