A deadly-sweet hoard of cookies was recovered from the suitcase of a Guatemalan man who arrived at a New Jersey airport, U.S. Customs authorities announced Thursday.
While inspecting a Guatemalan man's luggage at Newark Liberty International Airport, U.S. Customs officers came across several bags of cookies that were baked to conceal approximately $50,000 worth of cocaine, officials told CBS New York.
The alleged culprit, Mauricio Isidro Rivera Hernandez, was arrested and is now in the custody of Port Authority police.
"CBP officers remain ever vigilant in protecting the United States from the distribution of these dangerous drugs, regardless of the concealment methods employed by these would-be smugglers," Robert Perez, director of the New York Field Operations unit of the CBP, told the station.
Officials came across the baked goods on June 5 during a routine inspection of passengers arriving at the Newark, New Jersey airport from Guatemala City, according to the New York Daily News.
The chocolate chip cookies were found in three of Rivera Hernandez' checked bags, officials said. But upon further inspection officials realized that the batch of cookies were filled with small pellets of cocaine.
The oval-shaped pellets, 118 in total, weighed just over 3 pounds. Officials estimated the street value of the drugs to be $52,000, CBS New York reported.
Rivera Hernandez is now facing state charges for narcotics smuggling, according to the Daily News. It is not yet clear if he has a lawyer.
Drug smuggers have tried to get past customs at the same airport before. In December 2011, five founds of cocaine were discovered in deflated soccer balls hidden in the luggage of a passenger from Peru. The drugs were worth an estimated $300,000.
