More than 10 kilograms of liquid cocaine hidden in shampoo, conditioner, and keratin containers were seized at the José Martí International Airport in Havana, according to reported this Monday by the First Deputy Chief of the General Customs of the Republic, Wiliam Pérez González.
The seized products included one-liter bottles of the brands "Blow & Bliss" Keratin line and "Coco," which contained liquid drugs.
"More than 10 kg of liquid cocaine hidden in bottles of shampoo, keratin, and conditioner were detected at Havana Airport," wrote Pérez, who took the opportunity to congratulate the Customs officials and the drug enforcement agency "on this new anniversary of the DTI."
The discovery coincided with the 67th anniversary of the founding of the Technical Investigation Department (DTI), the entity of the Ministry of the Interior dedicated to the fight against crime through covert intelligence methods, established on July 13, 1959.
The technique of dissolving cocaine hydrochloride in water or other solvents to introduce it into personal hygiene containers is an increasing trend on Latin American routes.
The drug can be recovered in solid form through evaporation with heat, and it is particularly difficult to detect using conventional X-ray scanners, making K-9 dogs and laboratory tests indispensable tools.
Seizures like this have been reported during 2026.
In January, Cuban Customs had already detected cocaine hidden in Nivea creams and Herbal Essences shampoo on a flight from Panama, and last April, two individuals were arrested in Ecuador while attempting to send two kilograms of cocaine to Havana concealed in boxes of hair products.
In 2025, there were also notable cases: cocaine hidden in cans of tuna and within the structure of a suitcase in August, and a young man arrested with over a kilogram concealed in a religious figure of Eleguá in July.
The José Martí Airport is the main entry point for narcotics into Cuba: it accounted for 77% of the detected trafficking cases at the four main border points of the country in 2022, and in 2024, Cuban authorities seized a total of 1,051 kilograms of drugs nationwide.
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