A British man has been detained in Spain after allegedly attempting to smuggle drugs.
Police say 62.3kg of cannabis resin was found ‘hidden’ in a secret concealed compartment built into the roof of his car.
The UK-registered vehicle was at Ceuta, Spain’s North African enclave, heading to a ferry bound for the port of Algeciras.
The Civil Guard said officers ended up doing a thorough search of the car after a sniffer dog alerted them to it.
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Packaged up, it’s alleged the kilos of the drug were wrapped and branded with names like ‘dream gelato’ and ‘cereal milk’.
The force added that the arrested driver was a UK native born in 1956, making him 68 or 69. He was arrested at around 6.00pm on Sunday (13 July).
It isn’t clear where the accused’s final destination was intended to be before he was detained and he has been held in police custody ahead of being took to court under an alleged drug trafficking offence.
It is believed the man was travelling alone when he was detained.
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Yesterday, a spokesperson for the Civil Guard in Ceuta said: “Around 6.00pm on Sunday officers from the First Fiscal and Border Company, along with colleagues from Ceuta’s Cynological Group who inspect vehicles preparing to embark on ferries heading to Algeciras, carried out a check on a UK-plated vehicle with a specialist sniffer dog that indicated the possibility there were drugs inside.”
They added that the specialist dog marked areas as ‘possible hiding places’, with the cannabis resin found in ‘a secret compartment in the roof of the vehicle’.
"The suspect will now go before a court in Ceuta as the suspected author of a crime of drug trafficking,” they added.
"The drugs have been seized and handed over to a central government delegation and the vehicle is now under the supervision of the courts."
There are currently a number of Brits being held abroad on drug smuggling allegations, with Bella May Culley drawing attention in Georgia.
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The 19-year-old from Teesside was initially reported missing by her family while she was travelling in Asia but it was soon revealed by officials that she was in the Eastern European country.
She was arrested in May at Tbilisi International Airport with around 12kg of marijuana and hashish in her luggage.
Culley has claimed she was ‘forced by torture’ to smuggle the drugs out of Thailand and was coerced. If she is found guilty, she could face up to 20 years in jail or life imprisonment.
Jess Battison