UK and Spain Drugs Con in Interpol Warning over Costa del Sol and Costa Blanca Traffickers Dressing Up as Takeaway Food Drivers

INTERPOL has warned about a big UK and Spain drugs con where traffickers pretend to be food delivery drivers in the Costa del Sol and Costa Blanca areas.

The international police body says that criminals are using delivery services as a cover to transport drugs and other illegal goods during the coronavirus crisis.

Earlier this month, the National Police arrested seven people disguised as food delivery drivers in the Costa Blanca region and in the Valencia area.

The clandestine traffickers were caught delivering cocaine and marihuana by bicycle, motorcycle and car, with some of the drugs concealed inside their home delivery backpacks, which offered more than pizza and kebabs.

Interpol say that the con has spread to the UK and Ireland, as well as further afield in Malaysia.

Drug operators and growers in South America are continuing to smuggle in shipments of cocaine into Europe for onward sale, and local dealers are trying to innovate over distribution because of isolation measures like the State of Alarm in Spain.

In Ireland, police recovered eight kilos of cocaine as well as two guns hidden in pizza boxes.

Some delivery drivers and riders were actually not aware that they were being used as mules to transport drugs, but the majority of the cases uncovered internationally showed that the delivery staff were part of drug trafficking operations.