Drug-Filled Watermelons Deceive No One: US Agents Expose Fake Fruit

HomeNewsDrug-Filled Watermelons Deceive No One: US Agents Expose Fake Fruit

Drug-Filled Watermelons Deceive No One: US Agents Expose Fake Fruit

United States border agents have intercepted a truck carrying more than $ 5m worth of methamphetamine at the US-Mexico border hidden inside a shipment of watermelons.

The drugs were wrapped in plastic painted in two shades of green to resemble the fruit and placed among real watermelons.

More than two tonnes of methamphetamine – in a total of 1,220 packages – was seized by officers.

Stashing drugs among produce is a common way to smuggle illicit substances across borders – banana shipments are the most popular. Still, officers have recently found narcotics in Gouda cheese and avocados.

US Customs and Border Protection officials said their officers had stopped a truck hauling a trailer at the border with Mexico in Otay Mesa.

The paperwork suggested the driver was transporting a shipment of watermelons, but an inspection revealed the parcels contained methamphetamine.

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Also known simply as meth, it is a powerful and highly addictive stimulant.

The driver was handed over to Homeland Security officials.

The seizure came a week after officials at the same border crossing discovered almost 300kg of meth in a shipment of celery.

Both hauls came to a total value of $6m, according to CBS News, the BBC’s US partner.

Mexican drug cartels are the leading producers and suppliers of methamphetamine to the United States.

In February, Mexican security forces seized more than 40 tonnes of the drug at the biggest lab to be discovered in recent years.

Mexican officials said the lab boasted more than 200 centrifuges, boilers, and condensing chambers – key equipment used to make the chemical.

Drug-Filled Watermelons Deceive No One: US Agents Expose Fake Fruit

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