Spain
Gift baskets full of cocaine and hashish – police stop drug lottery at Christmas
The gift baskets full of cocaine and hashish were to be raffled at Christmas and for the festival of Epiphany on January 6th (symbol picture)
© Christian Charisius
The Christmas lottery “El Gordo” is thrilling millions of people in Spain these days. However, the police have now stopped another curious lottery. Two drug dealers from Murcia wanted to give away gift baskets full of drugs, money and ham.
The Spanish police have arrested two suspected drug dealers who wanted to give away two gift baskets with cocaine, hashish and a leg of ham at Christmas. As the police announced on Tuesday, the investigators thwarted the unusual lottery in a raid in the city of Murcia. The police searched a drug stash where a list of raffle participants was on the wall.
The two men, a Spaniard and an Argentine, planned to raffle a “drug basket” each at Christmas and on the Feast of Epiphany on January 6th. “The basket contained cocaine, hashish, tobacco, cash and even an eight-pound ham,” police said. The tickets cost five euros for the Christmas lottery and ten euros for the second drawing.
Police confiscate marijuana plants, cocaine and hashish
In addition to the gift baskets, the police also confiscated 165 marijuana plants, 33 halogen lamps for growing them and “varying amounts of cocaine and hashish” during the raid.
Elaborate gift baskets, which are usually filled with wine, schnapps, ham and sweets, are a popular Christmas present in Spain. In particular, companies give them away to employees and customers.