Hot chocolate mix hid $900K worth of ‘dangerous’ drugs, Virginia customs officers say
While conducting a food shipment examination, customs officers at a Virginia airport discovered a mysterious white substance hidden inside hot chocolate mix packages, authorities said.
After further testing, officers at Washington Dulles International Airport determined the white substance was cocaine, brought by a Guatemalan courier, the United States Customs and Border Protection said in a Nov. 14 news release.
“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,” authorities said in the release.
The cocaine bricks — discovered Oct. 5 and addressed to a location in Northern Virginia — weighed 28 pounds, 6 ounces and were worth about $900,000, according to the release.
After officers seized the cocaine, federal authorities temporarily detained the courier, but prosecutors could not directly connect the courier to the drugs, according to the release.
The courier — whose name was not released publicly because they are not facing charges — then had their visa canceled and returned to Guatemala on Nov. 14, authorities said.
Over 573,000 pounds of drugs have been seized in fiscal year 2024, about a 4.4% increase from the previous year, according to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection database.
“Drug trafficking organizations continue trying to smuggle their illicit narcotics into the United States, 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,” Marc Calixte, CBP’s Area Port Director for Washington, D.C., said in the release.
This story was originally published November 15, 2024 at 12:37 PM with the headline "Hot chocolate mix hid $900K worth of ‘dangerous’ drugs, Virginia customs officers say."
