Very rarely does a cocaine story make it out of our cocaine column but this one, as they say, tickled me.
A bus full of men posing as musicians on the way to a gig in Texas was stopped at the southern border, and a search revealed a $2.7 million drug smuggling attempt, officials say.
A Volvo passenger bus tried to cross into the U.S. through the McAllen Port of Entry, in Hidalgo, on Monday, Feb. 24, according to a criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court of Southern Texas. There were seven people on board, including the driver, who told border agents he was driving the men to Houston to perform and record music, records show. McClatchy News on Feb. 27 reached out for comment from attorneys listed for the men, but didn’t immediately hear back.
Whether agents bought the story is unclear, but the bus was “flagged for secondary inspection,” documents read. A “CBP officer selected the vehicle for inspection which included utilizing nonintrusive inspection equipment and screening by a canine team,” a Feb. 26 CBP news release said.
However, an X-ray showed “an anomaly in the gas tank area,” court documents read. It was 208 pounds of cocaine, packed into 80 bundles hidden in the tank. The total value of the cocaine was $2.7 million, CBP officials said in the news release. Agents interviewed the driver and several passengers, all of whom stuck to their story at first. But the driver’s statements weren’t matching up, and when pressed he told agents that the band wasn’t real, but a front for an ongoing drug smuggling scheme, according to documents. His passengers were “posing” as musicians.
Read more at: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/national/article301104614.html#storylink=cpy
