Colombian caught in Spain with cocaine under toupee

A man poses with a drug package on his head, that he hid under a toupee, after being arrested in Barcelona, Spain, in this picture released on July 16, 2019. Spanish National Police via REUTERS

MADRID (Reuters) - A Colombian man was detained at Barcelona's international airport after half a kilo of cocaine was found hidden under an over-sized toupee, Spanish police said on Tuesday.

Arriving on a flight from Bogota, the man attracted police attention as he looked nervous and had a disproportionately large hairpiece under his hat. They found a package stuck to his head with about 30,000 euros ($34,000) of cocaine.

"There is no limit to the inventiveness of drug traffickers trying to mock controls," said the police statement.

A man poses with a toupee with a drug package under it after being arrested in Barcelona, Spain, in this picture released on July 16, 2019. Spanish National Police via REUTERS

The statement enclosed a photo of a middle-aged man - apparently still wearing the toupee though with his eyes blocked in the image - but gave no more details of his identity.

Over 100 kilos of cocaine were seized by Spanish police at the Barcelona-El Prat airport in 2018.

The Colombian was detained at the end of June.

($1 = 0.8894 euros)

(Reporting by Sarah Dagher; Editing by Paul Day and Andrew Cawthorne)