Meth Snickers in Los Angeles: Man Faces Life Sentence for $250,000 in Drugs
Meth Snickers in Los Angeles were found after a man tried to use the popular candy to hide and smuggle his drugs out of the country to Japan last week. Rogelio Mauricio Harris, 34, didn't make it far though- he was arrested at the airport.
The meth Snickers from Los Angeles were found while Harris, of Long Beach, Calif., was attempting to board his flight to Japan. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials conducted a random and routine baggage search when they found the box of 45 Snickers bars marked as candy.
"The box appeared to be professionally wrapped," Lee Harty, a Customs and Border Protection representative, told ABC News.
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However, the weight of the box was off because the Snickers were much heavier than they should have been. Even though each "was coated in a chocolate-like substance to make the content of the package appear to be a real candy bar," when pressure was applied, the bars didn't move, officials' statement said.
A "white, crystalline substance" in the bars turned out to be methamphetamine; the four pounds that agents found inside the bars has a street value in Japan of about $250,000.
Harris was arrested for the crime, and faces the charge of possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute. If he is found guilty, he could be sentenced to anywhere from 10 years behind bars to life in prison.
"This seizure is a great example of the enforcement work that CBP officers perform every day at our ports of entry, to not only keep illegal contraband and illegal criminal proceeds from entering the country, but from leaving the country as well," Todd Owen, CBP director of field operations in Los Angeles, told ABC News.
"The fact that this ruse was detected should serve as a deterrent for others who might be considering trying similar tactics to conceal dangerous contraband," Claude Arnold, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Los Angeles, added.
Harris' case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California.
