A Great Way To Start The Day: Drug Dog Bico Puts A Bite In Hong Kong's High

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Cincinnati, Ohio, has reported it intercepted earlier this month a shipment of cocaine bound for Hong Kong - and hidden in boxes of breakfast cereal.

The 44 pounds of cocaine was said to have a street value of $2.8 million. It was sniffed out by one of the service's drug-detection dogs "Bico"

The Corn Flakes were coated in the cocaine, the service said when announcing the bust. Drugs have been smuggled in cereal boxes in the past, it said. The shipment originated in Peru.

Frosted cereal flakes - while ingenious - are far from the most unusual way drug smugglers have hidden their illicit product. Others include under a wig, in a pair of fake buttocks, inside hollowed-out pineapples and even under the habits of drug mules pretending to be nuns.

Other wacky ways to beat border checks that have been foiled include cocaine stuffed inside individually hollowed-out coffee beans. Italian officials revealed the drugs after opening a parcel addressed to a fictional Mafia boss from a Hollywood movie.

Richard Gillespie, Cincinnati port director, said in a news statement: "The men and women at the Port of Cincinnati are committed to stopping the flow of dangerous drugs and they continue to use their training, intuition, and strategic skills to prevent these kinds of illegitimate shipments from reaching the public."

On a typical day in 2020 the U.S. border authorities seize 3,677 pounds of drugs at ports across the country.