Seventeen Pounds of Cocaine Found Stuffed in Books and Pillows at MIA

Drug smugglers from Lima, Peru showed up at Miami International Airport with just about every item in their luggage somehow stuffed with cocaine. Everywhere the smugglers could try and hide the marching powder they did. Unfortunately for them the approach didn't work, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers busted their...

By Kyle Munzenrieder

October 30, 2015

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Drug smugglers from Lima showed up at Miami International Airport with just about every item in their luggage somehow stuffed with cocaine. Everywhere the smugglers could try and hide the marching powder they did.

Unfortunately for them the approach didn't work, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers busted their everything-but-the-kitchen-sink-stuffed-with-coke plan.

No, seriously, here's a list of things they tried to hide cocaine in:

Jackets
Purses
Books
Pillows that appear to have an Alpaca design on them
A bottle of brandy that contained liquid cocaine

However, customs officers noticed a strange scent coming from the luggage and after inspection noticed irregular stitching on the jackets and purses. So they tore into them and inside found black baggies filled with white powder. That powder later tested positive for cocaine, because, really, was anyone expecting it to turn out to be baking soda?

The individual, unidentified by CBP, was arrested and all evidence was turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“This seizure is an excellent example of our CBP officers’ tenacity,” said Miami International Airport Port Director Christopher Maston in a statement. “They have great intuition and work ferociously to find hidden narcotics being smuggled into the U.S. We are proud of their dedication to the mission.”

It's just the latest incident of CBP finding cocaine creatively — but apparently not too creatively — hidden inside luggage and shipping at the Miami Airport. Earlier this month, customs found four pounds of cocaine hidden inside of coffee that was shipped from Peru. In June, they found a little over two pounds of coke hidden inside the bellies of fried fish in the luggage of Jamaican man. Over the past two years, CBP has also found over 80 pounds of coke hidden inside flower shipments coming in through Miami.

CBP claims that in a typical day they find about 10,327 pounds of drugs.

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