スイカに偽装、覚せい剤約２トン超押収 米

【ロサンゼルスＡＦＰ＝時事】米税関・国境警備局（ＣＢＰ）は、メキシコから入国したトラックから先週、スイカに偽装された覚せい剤のメタンフェタミン２トン以上を押収したと発表した。時価５００万ドル（約７億３０００万円）以上とされる。（写真はスイカに偽装された覚せい剤のメタンフェタミン。米税関・国境警備局提供）
　国境警備隊が今月１６日、カリフォルニア州オタイメサで、農産物を輸送中のトレーラーを制止し、積み荷を詳しく調べたところ、スイカの模様を描いた紙に包まれたメタンフェタミン１２００束以上が見つかったという。
　メタンフェタミンは押収され、運転手（２９）の身柄は国土安全保障省に引き渡された。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】

〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/08/23-19:44）

Smugglers disguised $5 million worth of methamphetamine as watermelons and tried to truck them across the border from Mexico, US border agents said.
More than 4,500 pounds (2,000 kilograms) of the addictive drug were wrapped in paper packages painted to look like the juicy fruit and hidden amongst other cargo.
Border agents pulled over the produce-laden tractor-trailer at Otay Mesa in California on Friday and got in amongst the cargo for a closer look.
There they discovered more than 1,200 watermelons were actually bundles of the synthetic drug wrapped in colored paper, US Customs and Border Protection said this week.
The load was seized and the 29-year-old driver was handed over to Homeland Security.
Meth is a powerful stimulant that can be prescribed by doctors to treat ADHD. But it is also abused as a street drug for its invigorating rush and the feelings of invincibility it can give to users.
The drug, known by various street names, including Ice, Chalk and Scooby Snax, was featured in the hit TV series Breaking Bad about a chemistry teacher who descends into a life of crime.
It is often manufactured in crude home laboratories, made by mixing household chemicals and cold medicines. The volatile substances involved are, however, prone to exploding.