BOGOTA, Colombia—Colombian police checking bus passengers at a roadblock noticed one man holding a poster of soccer star Lionel Messi held in what seemed to be an unusually thick frame. They found 12.5 kilos of marijuana hidden in back.

Authorities say police made the discovery Tuesday night at a bus checkpoint at an entrance to the city of Barranquilla about 700 miles (1,130 kilometers) north of Bogota.

Police Gen. Jose Vicente Segura in Barranquilla said Thursday that officers found 12 packets of marijuana behind the soccer poster. They arrested the 30-year-old man carrying the frame.

Colombian traffickers have tried all kinds of ways to smuggle drugs in and out of the country. They have hidden drugs under vegetables and inside Bibles and even molded cocaine into trophies.