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Drug traffickers can get pretty creative when it comes to trying to make sure their haul doesn’t raise any red flags before it reaches its destination. However, one man who was attempting to smuggle some from Iowa to Kentucky ended up in jail after police took a closer look at some Christmas presents that contained a sizeable quantity of meth.
Discretion is obviously key when you make the decision to try to smuggle multiple kilos of drugs across state lines. There are countless strategies that criminals in that particular line of work can turn to in an attempt to make sure their stash remains undetected, but they’re also going up against law enforcement agencies that have basically seen it all.
When you consider millions of Americans spent recent weeks driving around with Christmas presents in their car, you might think concealing drugs in decorative wrapping would be a solid strategy for a trafficker looking to hide their wares in relatively plain sight.
However, that did not work out for one man who decided to go that route.
A Nebraska man was nabbed by police who say he concealed more than 50 pounds of meth as Christmas presents
According to WLKY, police in Jeffersontown, Kentucky (located just outside of Louisville) conducted a traffic stop on December 22nd in connection with an investigation that was conducted in conjunction with state police and the DEA.
Those agencies had evidence that led them to believe the driver, a 23-year-old Nebraska resident identified as Jacob Talamantes, was in possession of some illicit substances, and those suspicions were confirmed when a drug-sniffing dog triggered a search of the vehicle that contained 55 pounds of meth that had been disguised as Christmas presents.
Police say Talamantes told them he drove the drugs from Iowa with the intent to offload them in Kentucky, but they ultimately ended up in an evidence locker after he was taken to jail and charged with first-degree trafficking of a controlled substance.