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Photo: Christian Charisius / dpa
The Spanish police have arrested two suspected drug dealers who wanted to give away two gift baskets with cocaine, hashish and a leg of ham at Christmas.
According to the police, the investigators thwarted the unusual lottery by raiding the city of Murcia in southeastern Spain.
The police searched a drug stash in which a list of the participants in the raffle was on the wall.
The two men, a Spaniard and an Argentine, therefore intended to raffle off a "drug basket" each on Christmas and the Three Kings' holiday on January 6th.
"The basket contained cocaine, hashish, tobacco, cash and even an eight-pound ham," the police said.
The tickets therefore cost five euros for the Christmas lottery and ten euros for the second drawing.
165 hemp plants
In addition to the gift baskets, the police also confiscated 165 hemp plants, 33 halogen lamps for growing them and unspecified amounts of cocaine and hashish during the raid.
Elaborate gift baskets, which are usually filled with wine, schnapps, ham and sweets, are a popular Christmas present in Spain.
In particular, companies give them away to employees and customers.
ptz / AFP