
CINCINNATI — Definitely not the breakfast of champions,
Customs agents in Cincinnati made an eye-opening discovery when they found dozens of boxes of cocaine-soaked breakfast cereal.
Authorities say they were first alerted to the illicit load by “Bico,” a narcotics detector dog who flagged a large shipment of cereal headed from Peru to a home in Hong Kong.
“When officers opened the box to take a closer look, they saw that the cereal contained white powder, and the flakes were coated with a grayish substance,” U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a statement.
Testing revealed that the cereal flakes had been soaked in cocaine. In all, the shipment contained about 44 pounds of cocaine coated corn flakes, which could have a street value of up to $2.8 million.
Cincinnati Port Director Richard Gillespie said that smugglers will hide narcotics in anything imaginable and that agents are prepared for anything.