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More than 28 pounds of cocaine that was concealed inside of 10 packages of hot chocolate beverage base will never make it to the streets after agents found it while examining a food shipment brought into the country by a Guatemalan courier.
According to officials, federal authorities initially detained the courier; however, authorities released the courier on Tuesday after prosecutors were unable to directly connect the courier to the cocaine.
Officers initially discovered 10 bricks of a white powdery substance concealed between layers of coffee grounds and under a double layer of chocolate bars in hot chocolate packages.
It was tested and confirmed to be cocaine and was earmarked to be sent to an address in Northern Virginia.
The combined weight of the 10 cocaine bricks was 28 pounds and six ounces (12.88 kilograms). It has a street value of approximately $900,000.
“Drug trafficking organizations continue trying to smuggle their illicit narcotics into the United States," Marc E. Calixte, CBP’s Director for the Area Port of Washington, DC.
"But vigilant Customs and Border Protection officers are relentless in their efforts to intercept these smuggling attempts and to protect our communities from the scourge of dangerous drugs
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