A Guardia Civil watched with interest as a Moroccan man staggered through the checkpoint at Ben Enzar, separating Morocco from the Spanish enclave of Melilla, with a huge, strangely shaped and obviously heavy holdall.
Initially suspecting the transport of a protected animal species, the officer decided to take a closer look. The man, when challenged, dropped the bag made a run for it but was apprehended.
Inside the bag was not an animal, but a 19-year-old sub-Saharan male. According to the officer, the young man was tall and with a considerable physique, making the situation even more strange.
The would-be immigrant, a Mali national, was handed over to the National Police.
The man who tried to bring him into the country illegally, a 39-year-old Moroccan with legal residency in Lleida, Cataluña, was arrested on suspicion of a crime against the rights of foreign nationals.