U.S. Border Patrol agents discovered half a million dollars of marijuana stuffed into fake carrots hidden among real ones, as smugglers tried to sneak them across the border, officials said. Officials in Pharr, Texas, made the find on Sunday as the truck hauling the produce crossed the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge along the Texas-Mexico border near the Gulf of Mexico, reported Business Insider. USCBP first performed a search using non-intrusive imaging technology, which flagged the vehicle for a secondary inspection.
A second pass at the truck was conducted using trained canines, which yielded the discovery of nearly 3,000 carrot-shaped packages concealing more than a ton of weed. There was so much seized contraband that officials were able to fill two trucks worth of it. The marijuana has an estimated street value of $499,000.
"Once again, drug smuggling organizations have demonstrated their creativity in attempting to smuggle large quantities of narcotics across the U.S.-Mexico border," said Port Director Efrain Solis Jr., in a statement. "Our officers are always ready to meet those challenges and remain vigilant towards any type of illicit activities."
The case is under investigation by the Department of Homeland Security.
This wasn't the first time carrots were used in drug smuggling attempts. In November 2015, USCBP at the same checkpoint seized nearly two million dollars worth of marijuana and cocaine hidden among packages of cucumbers and carrots. In that instance however, the drugs were packed into bricks and stashed among the produce, rather than hidden within fake iterations of them.
