Report: Gang Used Dakar Rally Car to Move Drugs

by Daniel Kobialka on Tue, Apr 20, 2010 at 10:37PM

Spanish police made seven arrests at the Dakar Rally in January, but none of them were for speeding.

According to FoxSports.com, authorities announced last week that they had seized more than 1,700 pounds of cocaine, 15,000 ecstasy tablets and roughly 10 pounds of hashish that were hidden in a fake Dakar Rally truck. Police detained the truck in Spain after it finished the race through Argentina and Chile and was shipped back to the Spanish port of Bilbao.

"The vehicle had been totally transformed to adapt it to its supposed participation in the competition as a support truck, with publicity and logos of the event painted on its side," police said in a statement.

The unnamed suspects are reportedly part of a drug trafficking ring on the island of Ibiza, a popular tourist attraction located off the coast of Valencia, Spain.

The truck was loaded with false compartments that were filled with drugs during one of the stages of the two-week race.

"The drug trafficking ring even provided the vehicle with all the necessary technical and logistical material, including the official uniform of the competition," authorities said.

In addition to the drugs, police found two guns and approximately $64,000 in cash in the truck.