Cops Seize Lexmark Cartridges Used to Traffic Meth

Cops Seize Lexmark Cartridges Used to Traffic Meth

According to radio station KWHI in Texas, $2.7 million worth of methamphetamine was seized by police using its drug-sniffing canine unit.

Sargent Randy Thumann and his K9 partner Kolt stopped a Volkswagen SUV on Interstate 10 in Fayette County for a traffic violation. The officer became suspicious that the vehicle was involved in transporting illegal narcotics.

Sargent Thumann deployed his canine Kolt to conduct an exterior sweep of the vehicle. The dog alerted the officer to the interior of the vehicle and a search revealed ten, apparently new, Lexmark branded toner cartridges, each loaded with methamphetamine.

However, the cartridges weren’t just filled with toner. They were loaded with roughly 26.3 kgs (58 pounds) of methamphetamine (meth) with an estimated street value of $2.7 million.

A white powdery substance in one cartridge’s toner compartment can be seen in the photo.

The driver Alvaro Barrera (49) of Laredo was arrested for felony drug possession and taken to the Fayette County Justice Center.

It’s not the first time printer cartridges have been used to hide illicit drugs. As far back as 2014, the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service intercepted the offending cartridges at a Sydney airport and found them to be filled with around 7 kilograms of methamphetamine instead of toner. That led to the arrest of a 27-year-old woman in Melbourne.

And a BBC TV investigation in 2015 found that illegal psychoactive substances are flooding into the Scottish black market, hidden in inkjet cartridges. According to the Daily Record, China-based gangs disguise the substances as “printing ink fillers”. BBC Scotland journalists uncovered a Chinese chemical company and its Scottish business partner exporting and selling Ethylphenidate—a substance which was listed as a banned drug in the UK since April 2015.

Editor: You can’t help thinking that dealing in actual, legitimate printer ink cartridges would have been easier and more profitable.

Related:

• Drugs Found in Cartridges
• Banned Drugs Disguised as Printer Ink
• Drugs Hidden in Cartridges: Police Alerted

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