Spanish police arrest men raffling off hamper full of drugs and a leg of ham

Two men have been arrested after Spanish police thwarted their chances at raffling off a Christmas hamper stuffed with drugs and a leg of ham.

Police in Murcia raided a suspected drug den this week where they found a so-called ‘narco-basket’ - a Christmas hamper including cocaine, alcohol, hash, tobacco, and an 8kg leg of cured ham.

Two men, one Argentinian and one Spaniard, were subsequently arrested. They were charged with drug crimes and electricity fraud due to their premises being illegally connected to the national grid.

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The class A lottery prize was being raffled off at €5 a ticket and €10 for a second draw, with a list of luck-chancers who’d put in for the narco-basket stuck on the wall of the drug den.

It appeared that two prizes were to be given away - one on Christmas Day, and another on Spain’s major holiday on January 6, Epiphany.

“The basket… included cocaine, hashish, tobacco, cash and even an eight-kilo cured ham,” police officials said in a statement.

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Police also discovered 165 marijuana plants in the drug den which were seized along with 5 kilos of dried weed, a kilo of buds, 33 halogen lamps and fans used to grow the plants, and cocaine.

Earlier this year, 827,000 ecstasy pills were seized in Barcelona in the country’s largest-ever synthetic drug bust. Along with the pills, 76kg of speed, 39.5kg of crystal meth and 217 litres of liquid amphetamine were also seized.

The gang involved had been described as “the most important criminal organisation dedicated to the manufacture and trafficking of synthetic drugs in the history of Spanish drug trafficking”.

Gemma Ross is Mixmag's Digital Intern, follow her on Twitter