Strange produce: Smugglers disguise meth as melons in US
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
More than 2,000kg of the addictive drug was wrapped in paper packages painted to look like watermelons and hidden amongst other cargo.
PHOTO: PEXELS
Follow topic:
LOS ANGELES - Smugglers disguised US$5 million (S$6.5 million) worth of methamphetamine as watermelons and tried to truck them across the border from Mexico, US border agents said.
More than 2,000kg of the addictive drug was wrapped in paper packages painted to look like the juicy fruit and hidden among other cargo.
Border agents pulled over the produce-laden tractor-trailer at Otay Mesa in California on Aug 16 and got in among the cargo for a closer look.
There they discovered more than 1,200 watermelons were actually bundles of the synthetic drug wrapped in coloured paper, US Customs and Border Protection said this week.
The load was seized and the 29-year-old driver was handed over to Homeland Security.
Methamphetamine is a powerful stimulant that can be prescribed by doctors to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. But it is also abused as a street drug for its invigorating rush and the feelings of invincibility it can give to users.
The drug, known by various street names, including Ice, Chalk and Scooby Snax, was featured in the hit TV series Breaking Bad, about a chemistry teacher who descends into a life of crime.
It is often manufactured in crude home laboratories, made by mixing household chemicals and cold medicines. The volatile substances involved are, however, prone to exploding. AFP
