Around 10kg of cocaine, 20kg of marijuana and 1800 doses of crack cocaine was confiscated after a police raid in Argentina’s capital of Buenos Aires.
The smugglers, called “Narcos de la Copa”, were using World Cup trophy replicas to hide the drugs.
According to multiple reports, two women and four men were arrested after police seized the drugs along with two firearms, two vehicles allegedly used to distribute the drugs, and nearly $15,000 dollars.
Argentina’s security minister Cristian Ritondo said in a statement: “These merchants of death have endless ingenuity but don’t be fooled. They shouldn’t be admired. On the contrary… they are now in jail.”
Ritondo also took to Twitter to post photos of the haul.
The tweet reads: “In #LaMatanza we stopped a narco band that trafficked cocaine, paco and marijuana in replicas of the world cup.”
En #LaMatanza detuvimos una banda narco que traficaba cocaína, paco y marihuana en réplicas de la copa del mundo. pic.twitter.com/7dvcB26wd0
— Cristian Ritondo (@cristianritondo) June 22, 2018
The latest bust adds to the increase in World Cup merchandise being used to smuggle illegal drugs. As reported by Global News, police in Colombia seized 14 team jerseys laced with a substance that turns into cocaine when treated.
What’s most shocking though, is the blatant disregard for FIFA’s laws about selling knock-off merchandise. And in this case, the complete disregard for the classic art of crafting replicas. Just look at this woeful workmanship, LOOK!
