After police discovered 24 suitcases filled with cocaine on a private jet, the Spanish citizen passenger of the aircraft was detained at an airport in Brazil on Wednesday.

According to El Pais, the federal police in Brazil arrested the Spanish man, who was the only passenger onboard the private jet at the time of the bust.

Brazilian authorities noted that when they searched the private aircraft heading to Brussels in Belgium, they found 24 suitcases filled with cocaine.

The private jet started its journey to Europe from Sao Paulo in Brazil earlier in the day. However, the plane briefly stopped at the Pinto Martins International Airport in Fortaleza, also in Brazil, for its papers to be checked.

When federal officers searched the aircraft while verifying the papers, they have found the more than a ton of cocaine. Brazilian authorities filmed the suspect while being asked to open one of the 24 suitcases.

The Spanish man eventually cooperated, and it was then that the pile of large packets stacked inside the suitcases was revealed. The white powder was filmed coming out of a packet when slashed by an officer.

The federal police in Brazil also revealed there were at least 50 packets of cocaine in each of the suitcases. When they accounted for all of the packets, they had a total of 1,304 kilograms, which was equivalent to more than one ton. The Spanish man was then detained and questioned at the airport.

The other four crew members of the private jet, all Turkish nationals, were also investigated in the case. This was not the first time police identified private jets being utilized to transport illegal drugs from Brazil to Europe.

A few months ago, several planes were seized in Brazil during a large operation against drug smuggling.

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Drug Trafficking: From Brazil to Spain

In 2018, Barcelona in Spain was named Europe's cocaine capital following a scientific study that tested the water in some of the biggest cities at the European Union.

The study found that Barcelona, the capital of the Catalonia region, consumed an average of 965.2 milligrams of the drug per 1000 residents daily. The numbers topped any other city that was part of the survey.

To get past police investigations and raids, drug smugglers have been trying innovative methods in bringing drugs into Spain and the wider portion of Europe.

Spanish authorities discovered close to 150 pounds of cocaine hidden inside carved out pineapples at Madrid's largest wholesale fruit and vegetable market in 2018.

Authorities noted that the illegal drugs were transported in hollowed-out pineapples filled with cocaine compacted into cylinders.

Last year, Spanish police intercepted a submarine carrying three tons of cocaine, and they believed it was built to smuggle illegal drugs.

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This article is owned by Latin Post

Written by: Jess Smith

WATCH: Brazil's Police Seized 1.3 tons of Cocaine Hidden in Suitcases on a Private Turkish Jet - From Citizen Free Press