Drug smuggling

Gang caught smuggling cannabis into UK in trucks of oranges

An international criminal ring using trucks laden with oranges to smuggle cannabis into the UK has been shut down by Spanishpolice.

Officers arrested 18 people and seized 2,450 kilograms of hashish, 105 kilograms of marijuana and 14,000 euros in cash – plus 21 tonnes of oranges, police said.

The gang had created two companies that imported and exported citrus fruit from Spain to the UK as a means of concealing their illegal activities.

The drugs were vacuum-packed and then hidden among the crates of oranges, meaning they were difficult for sniffer dogs to detect.

The gang's downfall came when a police patrol car intercepted one of its vans. The driver fled and police found 1,034 kilograms of hashish in 32 orange crates stowed in the back of the lorry.

Later police managed to trace the identity of the driver, which then led to the arrests of his fellow gang members.