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MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Customs agents in Tennessee seized more than 100 grams of cocaine hidden in a cookbook last month, authorities said.
According to a news release from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, on Feb. 17 officers examined a package at a Memphis consignment hub that was described as a high school cookbook.
The package contained a hardcover book titled “The Multi-Cultural Cuisine of Trinidad & Tobago & the Caribbean,” the release stated. But instead of cooking instructions, agents discovered that 500 recipes and 32 color photographs were missing, WHBQ-TV reported.
A hole was cut to allow a rectangular packet of cocaine weighing 147.6 grams to fit into the book, the CBP news release stated.
The shipment had been sent from Trinidad and Tobago to an address in the Little Caribbean neighborhood of New York City, according to the release.
“How was the recipient intending to cook his traditional callaloo, with all the pages cut up and replaced with cocaine,” Area Port Director Michael Neipert said in a statement. “Smugglers continue to conceal narcotics and other contraband in myriad ways, which my officers seize over and over every shift.”
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