Who brings olive oil to Portugal? Police foil cocaine smuggler's ploy

FILE PHOTO: Bottles of olive oil are lined in a factory in Dos Hermanas, near the Andalusian capital of Seville September 21, 2012. REUTERS/Marcelo del Pozo/File Photo

LISBON (Reuters) - Who would bring a suitcase full of olive oil to Portugal, one of the world's biggest producers of the stuff?

Police at Lisbon airport were already suspicious of one passenger before they discovered 24 bottles of extra virgin olive oil marked as Argentinian-made in his luggage.

"We had information that the man could be a trafficker, so he was stopped for checks, but the fact that he was coming to Portugal with a bunch of olive oil definitely reinforced our suspicions, which proved to be right," a police official said.

FILE PHOTO: Olive oil bottles are lined in a factory in Dos Hermanas, near the Andalusian capital of Seville September 21, 2012. REUTERS/Marcelo del Pozo/File Photo

The oil was found to be mixed with cocaine.

"We've had seizures of drugs hidden in bananas, pineapples, but this is unusual because it begs the question why," the official told Reuters.

The amount of the drug suspended in the oil would be enough for 33,000 individual doses, he said. The man was arrested.

(Reporting by Andrei Khalip; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)