Smugglers Hide Cocaine Inside Bugs Destined for Netherlands
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Drug smugglers have enlisted bugs to sneak cocaine into the Netherlands, a customs spokesman said Thursday.
When an alert customs officer took a close look at a consignment of more than 100 large, dead bugs sent from Peru to the Netherlands, he discovered that cocaine had been stashed in their backs.
"We see a lot of things, but this was a first for us," customs spokesman Kees Nanninga said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"It looked like they were cut open, the drugs hidden in their backs and then they were glued back together again," he said.
The insects held only 10.5 ounces of cocaine, worth about $11,300, Nanninga said.
The discovery was made during routine checks over the summer at a postal sorting office, but was made public only on Thursday. Nanninga said he did not know if anybody had been prosecuted as a result of the find.