Fans of Maradona found it hilarious that drugs were hidden in his pictures. Customs officers in Turkey discovered cocaine concealed inside a dozen of paintings of football legend Diego Maradona. According to Turkish Anadolu Agency, authorities at Istanbul Airport found over 2.60kg of cocaine from the man, who had stashed the drugs behind drawings and caricatures of the Argentine football legend, who died on November 25 this year.
In the operation carried out at the airport by the Customs Enforcement teams of the Ministry of Commerce, video show how the smuggled narcotics was wrapped in foil paper and stuck in between wooden boards used to frame the pictures.
NO COMMENT | İstanbul Havalimanı’nda, Maradona tablolarının arkasına gizlenmiş 2,65 kilogram kokain ele geçirildi
— euronews Türkçe (@euronews_tr) December 23, 2020
The ministry in a statement said that the suspicious behavior of 72-year-old male, a German citizen of Croatian origin, who came to Istanbul Airport from Colombia, attracted the attention of the Customs Enforcement teams.
İstanbul Havalimanı’nda, Maradona’nın tablolarının arkasına gizlenmiş kokain ele geçirildi https://t.co/wlbklCdUoA pic.twitter.com/YrcInJClvs
— T.C. Ticaret Bakanlığı (@ticaret) December 23, 2020
“Appearing as a big Maradona fan at first glance, the luggage of the person was scanned with the latest system tomographic x-ray scanning device,” the statement read.
“When the backs of the tables, where the suspicious density was detected in the X-ray scan and then the detector dogs reacted, it was understood that the drugs were placed in these sections as special plates,” they added.
According to a report by Daily Sabah, the cocaine seized from the man was worth 2 million Tukish Lira (around $261,000). The suspect was detained following the bust as an investigation into the incident in underway.
