This handout picture released by the Colombian Antinarcotics Police shows 6,184 kilos of cocaine -which was heading to the port of Algeciras, Spain- seized in Barranquilla, on April 2, 2017. The police discovered a container containing 20 pallets with scrap iron and pressed steel, with rectangular packages, which turned out to be cocaine hydrochloride. / AFP PHOTO / Colombian National Police / HO / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / COLOMBIAN POLICE" - NO MARKETING - NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS
Spanish police said Wednesday they had seized half a tonne of cocaine hidden in fake fireplace bricks and arrested 25 people after nationwide raids.
A two-year investigation culminated in the arrests last month when authorities found the drug in hollow firebricks in a warehouse, the police said in a statement. Police had to break open thousands of the heat-resistant bricks — normally used to build barbecues or chimneys — to find the hollow ones used to transport the drugs.
The alleged drug ring was led by an individual living in Colombia, Mexico and Spain, according to police, who raided 28 apartments across the country.
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