Cocaine pineapple ring caught smuggling 745kg of drugs disguised as tropical fruit into Europe

Spanish and Portuguese police discovered an enormous shipment of cocaine hidden inside fake pineapples during a raid on shipping containers.

Nine gang members alleged to have transported the drugs from Latin America were arrested.

A video by police showed the skin of one "pineapple" being peeled off to reveal a layer of yellow wax and beneath that the cocaine.

Police seized 745kg of the drug hidden in the fruit along with €400 000 (£352,000) in cash, according to Reuters.

A laboratory where the drug was cut with additives was also discovered and dismantled by the authorities.

The raid was the result of a joint investigation dating back to April 2017, police revealed.

"This organised international group had repeatedly brought large quantities of cocaine to the European continent," Portuguese investigators said.

In November 2017 Spanish police discovered 400kg of cocaine in Barcelona and Madrid. It traced that consignment to an import company shipping fruit from Panama to Portugal and eventually to the port in Lisbon where the new shipment was discovered.

The Iberian peninsula is a major entry point to Europe for cocaine and other drugs.