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Meth haul disguised as watermelons fails to fool US border agents

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Meth haul disguised as watermelons fails to fool US border agents
Meth haul disguised as watermelons fails to fool US border agents

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Fake watermelons full of drugs fail to fool US agents

Image source, CBP

Image caption,

The drugs were concealed in coloured wrapping to resemble watermelons

Vanessa Buschschlüter

BBC News

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 the illicit substances across borders – banana shipments are the most popular but 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 for watermelons, but a inspection revealed the parcels containing methamphetamine.

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

Image source, CBP

Image caption,

In total, border agents found 1,220 parcels containing meth

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, external, the BBC’s US partner.

Image source, CBP

Image caption,

The meth in the celery shipment was discovered by a sniffer dog

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.

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