Two separate shipments of illegal narcotics — one containing methamphetamine wrapped as candy, another with cocaine concealed in a tombstone — were intercepted by customs agents in Cincinnati, officials said Friday.
Both loads of narcotics were seized last month at a processing facility in Cincinnati, Customs and Border Protection said in a news release.
The first occurred on Jan. 4, when officers conducting routine inspections came across two packages bound for Gridley, California, from Mexico.
At first glance the boxes contained what looked like tinfoil-wrapped candy, but X-ray and physical inspection revealed some anomalies. When it was unwrapped, agents found several of the treats contained plastic capsules with small bags of white powder that tested positive for meth, authorities said.
Around nine pounds of methamphetamine was confiscated, according to CBP.
Then, on Jan. 24, a narcotics-sniffing K-9 named Freddy alerted authorities to a shipment labeled as a “decorative tombstone” while inspecting cargo inbound from Canada.
Officers found a tombstone made of a resin material inside, but upon further inspection they noticed its backing could be easily removed to reveal a hollow interior loaded with white powder that later tested positive for cocaine, CBP said.
Other shipments intercepted recently included cocaine smuggled in documents, piston heads and wheels, the agency said.