A woman has been arrested at Barcelona airport after trying to smuggle cocaine into the country concealed in breast implants.
The Panamanian woman, 33, known only as Yeraldina, claimed that drug traffickers had forced her to undergo surgery to implant the bags of the class A drug under her skin.
She was stopped on arrival at Barcelona's El Prat airport earlier this month after an overnight flight from Bogata, Colombia when police became suspicious at her answers to routine questions.
During a body search they discovered a blood-soaked bandage covering recent wounds across her chest. She told officers she had recently undergone cosmetic surgery on her breasts but they sent her to hospital for further examination where she is now recovering.
Doctors discovered implants made from a total of 1.3 kgs (2.9lb) of the drug - with a street value around 100,000 euros (£80,000) - sealed in plastic bags.
The woman "had two breast implants containing cocaine implanted in her. She had two open cuts under each of her breasts," the police said, releasing a photograph of one of the loosely stitched wounds.
A police source said the latest arrest had most likely saved the woman's life. Quoted on the Vozpopuli news website a police officer said she may not have survived much longer with such quantities of the substance in her body.
"She was in a very bad state when she arrived. She said she was not in any pain but the wounds looked very bad," he said.
It was the first time police officers have discovered drugs smuggled in the breasts of woman, Spain's Interior Ministry said.
Spanish police have in the past discovered cocaine shipments disguised as replica sculptures by Colombian artist Fernando Botero, the "plaster cast" protecting a man's broken leg, an entire 42-piece crockery set and even moulded into the shape of designer shoes.
