This week, we’re diving into a whole new realm of bad food decisions. Hold onto your appetites—because this week’s lineup is more likely to make you lose your lunch than enjoy it!
Not-so-seedless-watermelons
In an elaborate smuggling scheme, a commercial truck carrying a shipment of watermelons was intercepted by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at the Otay Mesa Commercial Facility in San Diego. But these weren’t your average summer fruits—inside the “watermelons” were 1,220 packages of methamphetamine, wrapped in paper to resemble the fruit. In total, the packages weighed nearly 4,600 pounds and had an estimated street value of more than $5 million. The 29-year-old driver, who hasn’t been identified publicly, was turned over to Homeland Security Investigations, while the drugs and the tractor-trailer were seized by authorities.
This isn’t the first time drug cartels have used creative methods to transport narcotics across the U.S.-Mexico border. In fact, officers at the same facility recently seized 629 pounds of meth hidden in celery crates. With drug smugglers becoming more innovative, law enforcement is constantly evolving their tactics to prevent dangerous drugs from entering the country.
All Trick No Treat
From smuggling meth in paper fruit, we move to smuggling meth in candy. Wrapped in seemingly harmless packaging, the sweets were solid blocks of methamphetamine, each containing up to 300 times the amount of the drug typically ingested. Three people ended up hospitalized after consuming the meth-laced candy, though fortunately, they were later discharged. The candies, flavored with pineapple, were stamped with the label of a Malaysian brand, leading authorities to believe the drugs were part of a cross-border smuggling operation that went awry.
Auckland City Mission, the charity that unknowingly distributed the candies, immediately began contacting up to 400 people who may have received the tainted sweets in their food parcels. The charity only accepts donations of commercially produced, sealed food items, but the meth-filled candies had arrived in a retail-sized bag, making it difficult for staff to identify the threat. Authorities have since recovered 29 of the candies, but it’s unknown how many more might still be in circulation. With the potential for lethal consequences, this terrifying incident serves as a stark reminder of how dangerous and unpredictable the world of drug smuggling can be.
It’s a food bank, not a food dumpster
In the earlier stories criminals were trying to disguise one thing as something else. This story, the perpetrators don’t even have the common sense to do that. Two men were fined a total of $17,000 after they were caught dumping expired food outside a charity store in Sydney, Australia. Surveillance footage showed the men unloading around 40 boxes of expired Cheetos Puff snacks and, months later, an additional 60 boxes of expired yogurt dips—both past their expiration dates by over a year. The men, who claimed they were “donating” the food, were hit with heavy fines for transporting waste to an unlawful dumping site.
Local authorities were less than impressed with the men’s idea of “charity,” with the Canterbury-Bankstown Council issuing multiple fines in response. The first incident, in February, earned the driver a $2,000 fine. The second dumping, in May, resulted in a much heftier $15,000 fine. Council members expressed their outrage, with one noting that such behavior not only disrespects the charity but also puts unnecessary pressure on local waste management systems. The fines are part of a broader crackdown on illegal dumping, which costs New South Wales residents hundreds of millions of dollars each year.
While the men may have thought they were getting away with some harmless trash dumping, the consequences were far more expensive than they likely anticipated.
