Colombian Man Reportedly Arrested at Airport With Cocaine-Stuffed Wig Worth Over $10,000
Police say they stopped a 40-year-old man attempting to smuggle 220 grams of cocaine from Cartagena to Amsterdam.
A Colombian man was reportedly caught trying to smuggle drugs through an airport with a wig.
According to Colombia’s national police, a 40-year-old man recently attempted to board a flight to Amsterdam at Cartagena’s Rafael Núñez International Airport with cocaine hidden under a wig, per La Razón Mexico.
A video released by the police on their social media accounts shows the moment they cut through the man’s wig, revealing 19 capsules of cocaine covered by a black cap.
Stashed inside of the “narcopeluca” (narco wig) was more than 220 grams of the drug, which the Anti-Narcotics Police says is valued at more than 10,000 euros, or approximately $10,470.
The arrested man reportedly has a criminal history for drug trafficking and was handed over to the Attorney General’s office for charges related to the trafficking, manufacturing, and possession of narcotics.
Gelver Yecid Peña Araque, Cartagena’s police commander, said during a press conference that in 2024 alone 45 individuals have been arrested in the city’s airport for smuggling drugs in their luggage or bodies—sometimes by swallowing the substances to bypass security checks.
“I’m calling on citizens and parents to exercise control, especially over young people who are falsely exploited by these transnational organized crime gangs, who deceive them by telling them that it is very easy to break through the security arrangements of the National Police,” said Araque.
According to a report from Colombian magazine Semana, the country’s Anti-Narcotics Police first became aware of the wig smuggling method in 2022 after two cases where women stuffed the drugs in thick wigs to bypass airport security.
