Cigarette smuggler tried floating across river disguised as a water plant

This is the surreal moment police arrest a cigarette smuggler disguised as a water hyacinth as he tries to cross a river from Paraguay to Argentina.

Gendarmes in military fatigues shone their torches at the ‘floating plant’ as it came towards their boat under the cover of darkness.

Their suspicions about the real nature of the unexpected object in front of them proved spot on as a close inspection revealed what was under the clever camouflage.

An officer ended up hoisting the human being hidden under it aboard before handcuffing him.

The smuggler was caught by gendarmes on the Paraguay/Argentina border

They then discovered he had been pushing 200 packs of ‘Rodeo King Size’ cigarettes in four black boxes under a flexible wire mesh covered with a mix of leaves and artificial plants and tied to his body.

The 42-year-old smuggler was checked over to make sure he wasn’t suffering from hypothermia or any other health problems before being taken to a police station for questioning ahead of a court appearance.

The wetsuit he was wearing is thought to have kept his body temperature higher than it would normally have been.

The bizarre incident occurred in the early hours of yesterday morning local time near Cerrito Island in the Argentinian Litoral region where the Paraguay and Parana Rivers meet.

The man arrested had reportedly been trying to get the picture-postcard island from Paraguay when he was intercepted by officers from the Argentine Naval Prefecture.

A source told local press: ‘No-one had ever seen a plant like that floating so fast on top of the water-line and it made them take a closer look.’

The unnamed tobacco smuggler, dubbed Aquaman after the half-human American comic book superhero by social media users, is expected to appear before a judge in the northern Argentinian city of Resistencia later today.

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