While some drug dealers have tried (and failed) to hide their contraband in fairly innocuous disguises, others have gone down the more troubling route of smuggling deadly drugs in kid-friendly packaging, like candy or Star Wars lollipops. On Tuesday, however, the DEA made another alarming discovery, busting smugglers with 500 pounds of meth stuffed inside wax figurines shaped like beloved Disney characters.
According to WSB-TV, investigators in Gwinnett County, Georgia, found meth with a street value of roughly $2 million shoved inside 500 innocent-looking sculptures of Pluto, Piglet, Winnie the Pooh, and Donald Duck. While there’s no word yet on potential arrests, DEA special agent Robert Murphy said investigators believe the shipment came from Mexico and was bound for Atlanta. He told WSB-TV a “major organization” is suspected of creating the figurines, as well as hundreds of ceramic decoy toys in an effort to conceal the ones containing the drugs.
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It’s not clear if the smugglers were actually trying to aim the products at children, like the brightly colored meth lollipops confiscated in Texas last year seemed to be. Back in 2007, a rumor spread that dealers were targeting kids with a flavored and brightly colored meth known as “Strawberry Quick,” but the DEA reassured parents there was no evidence any flavored methamphetamine was deliberately being sold to children, despite the coloring often used by meth makers.
Crafty traffickers have previously tried smuggle meth in dick-shaped wax candles to move their meth and throw the feds off the scent. But as the Disney figurine bust shows, nothing is too comical or too cute to avoid suspicion entirely.
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