Footage released by police showed the wig being cut off the man's head to reveal 19 capsules of the substance, which weighed 220g.

The 40-year-old, who has not been named, was attempting fly to the Netherlands, allegedly with drugs said to be worth at least £8,000 on his head last week. But an x-ray scanner picked up something strange as he passed security in Cartagena airport, on the South American country’s Caribbean coast.