Spanish police seize cannabis worth £4.5m in 'plot to smuggle drugs into the UK in paint cans'

Spanish police have arrested 12 people after around £4.5m worth of cannabis was seized following an alleged plot to smuggle drugs into the UK in paint cans.



Officers seized 370 kilos of marijuana, including buds and more than 10,000 plants, during raids on warehouses around the Madrid area.



Around 100 of the 500 paint pots they confiscated contained bags of drugs ready to be sent to Britain.



Video footage of forensic experts in white protective suits removing cannabis from hiding places after a raid on one of the warehouses was released by police on Sunday as they announced the arrests of a dozen Chinese immigrants.



The footage also showed how the cannabis plants were growing, with 24-hour artificial light inside the warehouses using illegal electrical hook-ups and special filters to hide the drugs' distinctive smell.