That Sugary Frosting Was Cocaine: Customs

Agents seize shipment of corn flakes worth nearly $3M
By Bob Cronin,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 20, 2021 4:15 PM CST
Agents Intercept Corn Flakes With a Cocaine Coating
Stock photo.   (Getty/etienne voss)

It's not often that anyone talks about the street value of corn flakes. But Customs and Border Patrol officers said they intercepted a shipment of cereal last week whose secret ingredient was cocaine. The 44 pounds of corn flakes had a street value of just under $3 million, Cincinnati.com reports. Bico, a narcotic-detecting dog working for Customs, alerted agents in Cincinnati to the shipment. When they opened a box, they found a white powder, and the flakes had been covered in a grayish substance. Tests confirmed the presence of cocaine.

The cereal was being shipped from Peru to a residence in Hong Kong, per WCPO. Smugglers will try to hide narcotics in anything, the Cincinnati port director said. Agents there report having intercepted 50 shipments totaling 433 pounds of green powder cocaine, disguised as the nutritional supplements matcha or moringa powder, since October. (More drug smuggling stories.)

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