Pot tamales! Border Patrol finds marijuana hidden in Mexican food

Posted Apr 21, 2011

Dylan Smith
TucsonSentinel.com

Border PatrolNot just tasty tamales here.
Border PatrolFour bundles of marijuana found hidden under tamales by Border Patrol agents.

Two large pots of tamales were found to have a bit of extra spice by Border Patrol agents: they contained almost 30 pounds of marijuana hidden under the food, authorities said.

Four bundles of pot were found Wednesday about 6 p.m. after the occupants of a shuttle van passing through the Border Patrol checkpoint on I-19 were given a secondary inspection because of "suspicious behavior," a press release from the agency said.

"During the secondary inspection, agents observed two large pots of tamales in the back of the van. Agents detected anomalies within the pots using non-intrusive inspection technology," the release said.

The bundles, 27.4 pounds in total, had a street value of $13,700, the agency said.

The owner of the tamales was arrested and faces federal drug smuggling charges, the release said.

The Border Patrol provided no word on the fate of the tamales.

Drug smugglers have restorted to ever-more creative techniques to move pot across the border, including a recent attempt to use a trebuchet to sling bundles over the border that was captured on video.