Bizarre news story of the day: someone sent 35-plus pounds of cocaine to the United Nations, apparently on accident.
According to CNN, an investigation is underway by New York City police to track the culprit. The drugs were received Jan. 16 in the mail room at the U.N.’s midtown Manhattan headquarters, hidden inside hollow books that had been sent from from Mexico City in at least one bag resembling an official-seeming diplomatic pouch branded with the organization’s logo. There was no return address, nor a specifc destination noted.
“This was not connected to the United Nations, and that’s why the host government, the city authorities, in the shape of the NYPD, were brought in to assist,” said U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky in a statement Thursday, adding that “two suspicious mail bags were intercepted.”
Meanwhile, AFP reported that the drugs might have been mailed to the U.N. accidentally after Mexican drug traffickers lost the stash.
Paul Browne, the NYPD deputy commissioner, said the cocaine was sent through a DHL delivery center in Cincinnati, Ohio.
“It is my understanding that because there was no addressee, the DHL just thought, well, that’s the UN symbol so we should ship it on to UN headquarters and let them figure out who it was supposed to go to,” Browne said, according to AFP.
The estimated value of the narcotics: $2 million.
