Celery was used to conceal more than 2,300 pounds of methamphetamine that federal agents discovered in a truck at a farmers market outside Atlanta, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) said.
In what the DEA called one of the largest seizures of its kind, agents confiscated the drugs delivered to the Atlanta Farmers Market in Forest Park, authorities said at a news conference Monday, WAGA-TV reported.
The agency had been notified of a tractor-trailer arriving at the Mexican border and agents followed the drugs to the farmers market, DEA Special Agent in Charge Robert Murphy said. The drugs were found inside the truck, he added.
“This product was contained in a celery blanket,” Murphy said. “It was hidden in the celery. Obviously, we threw the celery away. It didn’t make it to the store.”
A Mexican citizen has been arrested, the Atlanta television station reported. Details about the suspect and the charges against him were not immediately available Tuesday.
Using products to conceal drugs has become a common tactic among traffickers, authorities said.
Methamphetamine is a highly addictive stimulant, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). It is primarily manufactured and distributed in the United States by Mexican drug trafficking organizations. A methamphetamine overdose can result in death from stroke, heart attack, or multiple organ problems caused by overheating.
Celery isn’t the first vegetable to have methamphetamine found in it. Earlier this year, dogs helped detect nearly 6 tons of methamphetamine hidden in a shipment of squash in California. Last year, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents found more than 3,000 pounds of methamphetamine and cocaine hidden in bins of jalapeño paste being transported across the border.
Drugs were also found hidden in green bean shipmentshidden in sugar shipments and smuggling in bags of flour and candy boxesCBS News previously reported. Cocaine was also found hidden inside banana shipments several times around the world over the past year.
