Everyday fruit and vegetables are some of the latest methods Mexican cartels are using to smuggle drugs into the US, recent seizures of methamphetamine suggest.
Around 2 tonnes of the powerful stimulant known colloquially as crystal meth was discovered recently in packages designed to look like bright green watermelons at the San Diego, California, port of Otay Mesa, according to US Customs and Border Patrol Protection officials.
Hidden amongst a shipment of actual watermelons, around 1,220 fake watermelons were found to contain 4,587lbs of meth valued at $5m after a truck driven by a 29-year-old man was selected for secondary inspection.
Port director Rosa Hernandez described the method of concealment as “sophisticated.
“As drug cartels continue to evolve their smuggling techniques, we will continue finding new and better ways to prevent these dangerous drugs and other contraband from entering the country,” Hernandez added.
The seizure came soon after agents with the Atlanta division of the Drug Enforcement Administration found over 2,500lbsof meth with $3.2m concealed among boxes of celery at a state farmers market in Forest Park, Georgia, on 8 August.
DEA special agent Robert Murphy said the haul was “a significant and unbelievable amount of drugs to be shipped at one time and to a destination this far from the border. It also shows the confidence of the cartel behind this.”
The Georgia department of agriculture said the celery was destroyed because it could have been contaminated by meth.
A day later another shipment of celery in a shipping crate was found by border agents at Otay Mesa to contain 629lbs of meth. The 34-year-old driver had declared the shipment as celery, according to the federal authorities.
Illegal drugs found in – and sometimes disguised as – cross-border drug shipments include other varieties of fruits and vegetables. Earlier this year, 6 tonnes of meth were discovered inside a shipment of squash in California.
That came after 3,000lbs of meth and cocaine were found last year in bins of jalapeño paste that were being transported over the border. Traffickers have also stashed drugs inside shipments of green beans, sugar, flour and candy, according to CBS News.
Border patrol credits the seizures to Operation Apollo, a counter-fentanyl effort that began last October in southern California and expanded to Arizona in April focusing on intelligence collection and partnerships.
The seizures comes as the DEA recognized National Fentanyl Prevention and Awareness Day with an exhibition of photographs at DEA headquarters in Washington DC. More than 107,543 people died last year from a drug poisoning or overdose, according to the CDC.
“The shift to synthetic drugs has resulted in the most dangerous and deadly drug crisis in United States’ history,” Anne Milgram, DEA administrator, said in a statement. “We hope you will join us on National Fentanyl Prevention and Awareness Day by remembering and honoring the lives lost.”
