Everyday fruit and vegetables are some of the latest methods Mexican cartels are using to smuggle drugs into the US, recent seizures of methamphetamine suggest.
Around 2 tonnes of the powerful stimulant known colloquially as crystal meth was discovered recently in packages designed to look like bright green watermelons at the San Diego, California, port of Otay Mesa, according to US Customs and Border Patrol Protection officials.
Hidden amongst a shipment of actual watermelons, around 1,220 fake watermelons were found to contain 4,587lbs of meth valued at $5m after a truck driven by a 29-year-old man was selected for secondary inspection.
Port director Rosa Hernandez described the method of concealment as “sophisticated.