Cocaine-soaked Colombian jerseys intercepted by police

Shirts were destined to Europe

Authorities at Bogota’s international airport have found 14 replica World Cup jerseys of Colombia’s national team soaked with a total of 11 pounds (5 kilograms) of cocaine.

Investigators say an anti-narcotics agent grew suspicious when he saw the box of jerseys being sent to a small city in the Netherlands.

Officials said Thursday that the agent “observed with sadness that the shirt that has brought so much happiness to the country” was saturated with cocaine hydrochloride. Traffickers sometimes use clothes soaked in the drug and then dried to transport narcotics.

Coca production in Colombia has surged in recent years.

source: AP