U.S. border agents over the last few weeks have thwarted some very creative attempts to sneak drugs into the country, including by hiding drugs in food and children's toys.
On Friday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced it found seven ounces of cocaine hiding inside tamales.
An Hidalgo Police Department observation tower being manned by Texas National Guard soldiers stands in Hidalgo, Texas. Border agents are finding drugs in the strangest places these days, from people coming across the border. (AP Photo/Christopher Sherman)
CBP agents selected a 46-year-old El Salvadoran man for drug screening, and in his luggage, they found a box containing 200 tamales. CBP said none of the tamales were disclosed by the man.
"Upon closer examination, officers found nine separate bags containing a white substance stuffed within some of the tamales," CBP said. "The substance tested positive for cocaine."
CBP said the traveler was turned over to the Houston Police Department.
On Thursday, U.S. Border Patrol agents arrested two men in a car, after which a drug-sniffing dog alerted them that drugs were somewhere in the vehicle. After a search, the agents found 19 vacuum-sealed packages of methamphetamine in the car's gas tank, and another 20 packages inside the car's rocker panels.
In all, agents pulled about 78 pounds of methamphetamine out of the car, which has a street value of about $780,000.
CBP said the 33-year-old Mexican driver had a visa, but the passenger didn't have the proper paperwork to travel more than 25 miles away from the U.S.-Mexico border. Both men are facing charges related to possession of a controlled substance, and the passenger faces an immigration charge.
Also last week, CBP reported that it successfully stopped drug smugglers from bringing drugs into the country by hiding them in rocking horses and clothing.
After finding "anomalies" in the wooden horses, agents drilled holes in them and found more than 29 pounds of cocaine worth about $377,000.
Officials also stopped a couple and found hundreds of prescription pills in their clothing worth about $2,700.
Other countries are having similar problems. Just last week, a woman trying to enter Spain from Colombia was found with nearly four pounds of cocaine hidden in her breast implants.
The drugs were found when female officers conducted a body search, and found "certain irregularities and deformations in both breasts."
