MEMPHIS, Tenn. — U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers found a big surprise in what was supposed to be a high school cookbook for Caribbean cuisine.
The agency said officers at an express consignment hub in Memphis discovered the package February 17, 2021. Inside the book titled “The Multi-Cultural Cuisine of Trinidad & Tobago & the Caribbean,” officers said they found recipes cut out and a big hole, filled with a package of cocaine weighing 147.6 grams.
The agency said the shipment was sent from Trinidad and Tobago to an address in the Little Caribbean neighborhood of New York City.
“How was the recipient intending to cook his traditional callaloo, with all the pages cut up and replaced with cocaine,” said Assistant Area Port Director Michael Neipert in a news release. “Smugglers continue to conceal narcotics and other contraband in myriad ways, which my officers seize over and over every shift.”
From CBP: “U.S. importers provide advance information about container cargo, express consignment shipments, and some international mail parcels bound for the United States. CBP uses this data to target and intercept high-risk shipments.
CBP personnel are trained to identify patterns and red flags that enable them to intercept shipments that may contain illicit and potentially dangerous goods.”
