Racing decoy

Eagle-eyed Spanish police have foiled a clever attempt to smuggle drugs into the country, using a decoy support vehicle for a major race event. The criminals tried to use the Dakar Rally held earlier this year as a front for their drug smuggling activities in an attempt with a plotline worthy of a Hollywood gangster movie.
February 22, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
Eagle-eyed Spanish police have foiled a clever attempt to smuggle drugs into the country, using a decoy support vehicle for a major race event. The criminals tried to use the Dakar Rally held earlier this year as a front for their drug smuggling activities in an attempt with a plotline worthy of a Hollywood gangster movie. A truck was disguised by the enterprising smugglers to resemble a race support vehicle for the race, which was held in South America instead of Africa this year. The truck was emblazoned with logos for the event's sponsors and for the Dakar Rally itself, as well as having a graphic of a racing car on its rear doors. The smugglers then transported the truck from the Spanish port of Bilbao to Argentina for the event. Close to Argentina's capital Buenos Aires the truck was loaded with the drugs using a number of secret storage areas within the vehicle. With the drugs aboard the truck then shadowed the race for two weeks before being shipped back to Bilbao. However police were waiting and the truck and its contents were seized. Inside the truck police discovered over 800kg of cocaine as well as 1,500 ecstasy tablets, 4.5kg of hashish and two firearms, all of which was hidden behind the various panels in secret lockers. Seven people were also arrested. The smugglers had prepared documentation for the vehicle and provided its crew with official uniforms, however the event organisers said that the truck was never part of the official race and never came to the meeting points along the route. The vehicle's graphics were also incorrect, making it easier to identify as a 'Trojan horse'.

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