MEMPHIS, Tenn. – A cookbook containing cocaine was seized by U.S. Customs and Border Protection Officers in Memphis last month, the agency said in a press release.
CBP officers at an express consignment hub in Memphis examined a package containing a hardcover book titled “The Multi-Cultural Cuisine of Trinidad & Tobago & the Caribbean.”
According to federal officials, the paperwork described the package as a high school cookbook.
However, CBPOs found many of the 500 recipes and 32 colored photographs missing, cut out to make room for a rectangular packet of cocaine weighing 147.6 grams.
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. “Smugglers continue to conceal narcotics and other contraband in myriad ways, which my officers seize over and over every shift.”
The seizure took place within the Area Port of Memphis, which covers ports of entry throughout the state of Tennessee and falls under CBP’s New Orleans Field Office.