US border agents caught nearly 1,500 pounds of marijuana hidden in coconuts

Christopher Woody

May 14, 2016, 00:27 IST

Customs and Border Patrol agents intercepted a shipment of coconuts carrying what is believed to be marijuana.

US Customs and Border Patrol agents uncovered 1,423 pounds of what is believed to be marijuana hidden in a shipment of coconuts crossing the US-Mexico border at the Pharr International Bridge, near McAllen, Texas, the CBP said in a release on Thursday.

CBP officers at the crossing inspected a tractor-trailer hauling a commercial shipment of coconuts with both nonintrusive imaging inspection and canine teams, ultimately uncovering 2,486 packets of the suspected drug mixed in with the coconuts.

The drugs, with a reported value of $285,000, were seized, and Homeland Security Investigations special agents are pursuing the case.

This is not the first time traffickers have attempted to smuggle drugs inside coconuts, nor are coconuts the only food product used to obscure drug shipments.

Marijuana has been found in packages painted to look like watermelons, and crystal meth has been found hidden in pineapples.

In December, agents in Chicago found a tomato shipment with $7 million worth of cocaine in it, and earlier this year agents in Texas found fake carrots packed with marijuana.

Vaunted Sinaloa cartel chief Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzmán even went so far as to open a cannery in Mexico to produce drug-stuffed peppers to be smuggled into the US.