LISBON – Police in Portugal and Spain said they seized hundreds of kilograms of cocaine hidden inside fresh pineapples, and arrested nine members of a gang that had transported the drug from South America.

The seizure, from shipping containers, was part of an ongoing investigation across both countries that started April 2017, police said on Wednesday.

Aside from the 1,642 pounds of cocaine seized and the arrests, police also dismantled a laboratory where the drug was cut with additives.

“This [organized] international group had repeatedly brought large quantities of cocaine to the European continent,” Portuguese investigators said in a statement.

The Iberian Peninsula is a major entry point for cocaine and other drugs to Europe, either directly from Latin America or via North and West Africa.