COCAINE SMUGGLED IN CREAM CAKES ACROSS GERMANY-CZECH BORDER

PRAGUE, Feb 12 (Bernama-dpa) -- A suspected drug gang is alleged to have hidden cocaine in cakes to smuggle it from Germany to the Czech Republic, the German Press Agency (dpa) reported.

A spokeswoman for the Czech police's anti-drug centre said on Wednesday that more than 30 kilogrammes of the drug had been smuggled from Berlin to Prague in this way.

"They decorated the cakes with whipped cream so that neither the contents nor the cut they had used to alter the filling could be seen," she explained.

The drug-filled cakes were packed in cake boxes and transported individually by courier coach from Germany to the Czech capital, she said.

Each cake contained a brick of cocaine weighing around 1 kilogram. The gang had taken advantage of the fact that the achievable market price for cocaine in the Czech Republic was significantly higher than in Germany, the spokeswoman said.

Seven foreigners and one Czech citizen are among the suspects, and five people are in custody. If convicted, they could face prison sentences of up to 18 years, the spokeswoman said.

The Czech police did not disclose the nationality of the foreign suspects for legal reasons.

The police accuse the gang of offering cocaine and other drugs such as crystal meth, ecstasy and LSD via a chat service on the internet.

They are said to have recruited young people in financial need as couriers. Large quantities of drugs, the equivalent of around €20,000 (US$24,000) in cash, a car and several luxury watches were seized during raids.

--BERNAMA-dpa