(PatriotWise.com) — Officials in Kenosha, Wisconsin, were alerted last week about an intercepted package containing rollerblades whose wheels had been infused with cocaine, leading to a raid that seized over $30,000 in narcotics and forged documents, the New York Post reported.
According to a statement from the Kenosha County Sheriff’s Office, the Department of Homeland Security Investigations (HIS) notified the Kenosha Drug Operations Group about the package that had been intercepted on its way to Kenosha from Bogota, Columbia.
The package, which contained a pair of Canariam rollerblades, had been flagged as suspicious by US Customs and Border Protection. The wheels of the rollerblades were then tested and found to be “infused” with a “gelatin-like substance” that contained cocaine.
Officials obtained a warrant to search the Kenosha address that appeared on the package. Last Friday, the home was raided in a joint operation between the Sheriff’s Office and HSI.
The flagged package was permitted to continue to its destination, and when the residents accepted the package, the Kenosha Tactical Response Team raided the property and conducted a search.
Investigators uncovered over a thousand grams of cocaine valued at approximately $35,000. In addition to more than $3,400 in cash, law enforcement also found over $30,000 in documented money transfers from Kenosha to Bogota, along with forged documents, including fake social security cards, Columbian IDs, and fraudulent Green Cards.
Charges are being sought against the suspects, and the investigation is ongoing, the sheriff’s department said.
The news comes just days after the US Coast Guard seized $143 million worth of cocaine from a smuggling vessel as part of its ongoing 59-day counter-narcotics patrol operation in the eastern Pacific.
The Coast Guard Cutter Alert’s Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron confronted a “go-fast” vessel—a boat equipped with high-performance outboard engines. When the boat refused to stop, the squadron disabled the engines, but not before the crew aboard began dumping bales of cocaine into the water.
In total, the Coast Guard retrieved nearly 11,000 pounds of cocaine bales from the smugglers.
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