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Cargo of cocaine in animal skins leads to Portuguese police captain
Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on August 7, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 22, 2026
Global Banking and Finance Review
Company
Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on August 7, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 22, 2026
A Portuguese police captain was arrested for smuggling cocaine hidden in animal skins, with 1.5 metric tons discovered at the port of Leixoes.
LISBON (Reuters) -Portuguese authorities have arrested a police captain and an accomplice suspected of running a drug operation that imported at least three containers of animal skins with 1.5 metric tons of cocaine hidden between the putrid layers of untanned skins.
A spokesperson at the Judicial Police for the Northern Region said on Thursday the stench had complicated the work of investigating teams as they removed and weighed the drugs.
The skins had been packed fresh in Latin America and arrived in Portugal after weeks at sea in a "highly putrefied state", the spokesperson said.
The arrested officer has been on a long unpaid leave from a GNR police unit in the northern city of Fafe. Local media said the same officer had led an operation to dismantle a major drug ring in Fafe two years ago.
Portuguese police, acting in cooperation with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, had discovered the haul at the port of Leixoes but allowed the containers to be picked up and followed them to a warehouse in Fafe, where they found other drugs, illicit guns and thousands of euros in cash.
(Reporting by Andrei Khalip; Editing by David Holmes)
The operation involved importing containers of animal skins that were used to smuggle cocaine, with at least three containers discovered.
A police captain and an accomplice were arrested, with the captain having previously led an operation to dismantle a major drug ring.
Investigators faced complications due to the stench from the highly putrefied animal skins, which made the removal and weighing of the drugs difficult.
The containers were discovered at the port of Leixoes in Portugal, and authorities followed them after allowing them to be picked up.
The animal skins were packed fresh in Latin America but arrived in Portugal in a highly putrefied state after weeks at sea.
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