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Liquid Cocaine in Fruit Juice Shipment
MIAMI (Reuters) - A Florida warehouse employee noticed the can of orange juice didn't quite smell right but took a sip anyway.
He called the cops when his tongue went numb.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said on Thursday the 18-ounce (500-ml) can of juice from Jamaica contained liquid cocaine that would have sold for about $40,000 on the street.
It was probably bought at a Jamaican grocery store, emptied, injected with cocaine and packaged with a shipment of real fruit juice before being sent to Fort Lauderdale on a plane, agents said. The can bore a label reading "Grace Fruit Drink."
"It was a warehouse employee who found it. It smelled bad but he took a sip of it. It didn't taste very good and his tongue went numb," said Nina Pruneda, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Authorities said they did not believe the incident represented a significant public health threat because Grace Corp., the juice company, said its fruit juices are not sold commercially in south Florida.
But they said they wanted to make sure no one was hurt by mistakenly drinking cocaine from a can. They asked anyone coming across a similar can to report it to their local police.
03/19/04 07:35
© Copyright Reuters Ltd. All rights reserved. The information contained In this news report may not be published, broadcast or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of Reuters Ltd.
Liquid Cocaine in Fruit Juice Shipment
MIAMI (Reuters) - A Florida warehouse employee noticed the can of orange juice didn't quite smell right but took a sip anyway.
He called the cops when his tongue went numb.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said on Thursday the 18-ounce (500-ml) can of juice from Jamaica contained liquid cocaine that would have sold for about $40,000 on the street.
It was probably bought at a Jamaican grocery store, emptied, injected with cocaine and packaged with a shipment of real fruit juice before being sent to Fort Lauderdale on a plane, agents said. The can bore a label reading "Grace Fruit Drink."
"It was a warehouse employee who found it. It smelled bad but he took a sip of it. It didn't taste very good and his tongue went numb," said Nina Pruneda, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Authorities said they did not believe the incident represented a significant public health threat because Grace Corp., the juice company, said its fruit juices are not sold commercially in south Florida.
But they said they wanted to make sure no one was hurt by mistakenly drinking cocaine from a can. They asked anyone coming across a similar can to report it to their local police.
03/19/04 07:35
© Copyright Reuters Ltd. All rights reserved. The information contained In this news report may not be published, broadcast or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of Reuters Ltd.
