Customs and Border Protection officers working this month in the Port of Cincinnati seized 44 pounds of cereal flakes that may have been “frosted,” just not with sugar.
The agency’s “narcotic detector dog” Bico was the first to alert that something was amiss with the shipment from Peru, officials said.
When officers opened a box marked “Corn Flakes,” the contents included a white powder and grayish coating, according to a news release. Testing confirmed that the contents included cocaine.
The shipment's final destination had been a private home in Hong Kong.
Smugglers will hide narcotics in anything imaginable, Cincinnati Port director Richard Gillespie said in a press release praising his team’s the work in finding the unusual stash.
The 44 pounds of drug-laced cereal were estimated to have a street value of over $2.5 million.
On a typical day in 2020, the CBP said, an average 3,677 pounds of drugs were seized at U.S. ports of entry.