Wraps of Cocaine

From Tokunbo Adedoja in New York
Workers at the mail room of the United Nations headquarters in New York were stunned on Monday, January 16, 2011 when they opened two mailed-in white pouches containing 16.1kg of cocaine.

The drugs were carefully wrapped in aluminum foil and plastic and packed in 14 hollowed-out hardcover books which were then placed in the two pouches.

The pouches, which had UN seals, were intended to look like diplomatic bags, but authentic diplomatic bags are blue with 'United Nations' and 'diplomatic mail' conspicously inscribed on them.

Interestingly, the bags, which were said to have been shipped from Mexico by DHL, had neither a return address nor intended recipient tags on them.

Spokesman for UN Secretary-General, Martin Nesirky, who disclosed that "two suspicious mail bags were intercepted,"  however maintained that, "neither the UN nor anyone at the UN was the intended recipient."

Noting that the pouches were not "UN bags, diplomatic or other", Nesirky also said Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and New York Police Department (NYPD) were currently investigating the discovery.

He hinged the interception on the effective screening put in place by the UN, adding that a directive had also gone out to all UN offices for a more closer screening of mails.

Earlier on Thursday night, Under Secretary General for Safety and Security, Mr. Gregory Starr,  had briefed UN correspondents on the discovery and also maintained that "there is nothing to indicate that this had anything to do with anybody at the United Nations."

Spokesman for the NYPD, Paul Browne, described the discovery as a drug shipment gone awry, adding that the pouches may have been delivered to the UN headquarters in New York because they bore the UN seal.