Police seize 1,600 pounds of coke disguised as pineapples

Jan. 18 (UPI) -- Authorities in Spain and Portugal teamed up to seize more than 1,600 pounds of cocaine disguised as fresh pineapples in a shipment from South America.

The Spanish Interior Ministry said the National Police Corps, working together with the Portuguese Judicial Police, found the approximately 1,640 pounds of cocaine has been covered in yellow wax, covered in pineapple skins and concealed among fresh pineapples shipped from Latin America.

The National Police posted a video of the seizure to Twitter.

Investigators said the drugs were smuggled as part of an operation run by a pair of Colombian brothers who operated laboratories near Madrid, the Spanish capital.

Nine gang members were arrested in the operation.

The pineapple shipment had arrived in Lisbon with an intended delivery address in Spain, police said.

Police said the seizure came after an investigation that began in April 2017.