MADRID: A security guard at Malaga airport on Spain’s Costa del Sol has been arrested on suspicion of helping to smuggle marijuana to Britain, police said on Sunday.
He was arrested at the airport last week with two other men who were trying to board a flight to London’s Gatwick airport with 4.5 kilos of marijuana in their hand baggage, police said in a statement.
“One of those arrested worked as a security guard at the airport and he allowed — in connivance with the other two who were arrested — drugs to be transported in their hand luggage,” it said.
The authorities suspect the men, Spanish nationals between the ages of 30 and 43, belonged to a drug trafficking ring.
Police were not able to say how much marijuana the trio may have smuggled into Britain before they were arrested.
The authorities said they had acted on a tipoff.
Located at the crossroads of North Africa and western Europe, Spain is a major transit point for drugs.
Spanish police seized around 100 tonnes of hashish last year, roughly the same as in 2014.
