$25k of Weed Hidden Was Uncovered in Packages Marked as “Dog Toys”

Irish Revenue officers at the Dublin Mail Centre may have raised an eyebrow when their drug-sniffing dog took a sudden interest in a package marked “dog toys,” but it turned out that the K-9 was just doing its job.

Upon opening the package, authorities discovered that the package was stuffed with cannabis flower, and not one single dog toy. That same day, Revenue detector dog Bailey helped officers discover five additional packages stuffed with contraband weed. The six packages contained a total of 2.65 pounds of pot, with an estimated street value of over $26,000.

The packages, which were mailed from the US, the UK, and Spain, were declared as “dog toys,” “children’s toys,” “dried honeycomb,” and “Disney Frozen figure.” The packages were being shipped to addresses in Dublin, Sligo, and North Kildare. Police currently have no further leads as to who sent the packages, or who was planning to collect them, but will surely be investigating further.

That same week, authorities at the Portlaoise Mail Centre discovered even more weed hidden in packages marked as “toys.” These packages, which originated from the US, contained 2.2 pounds of pot, valued at over $11,000. In a separate incident, another detector dog helped Revenue officers at Cork Airport sniff out over 14,600 tobacco cigarettes of assorted brands. These unlicensed smokes were being smuggled into the country by a passenger who was entering the country from Kiev, Ukraine via Amsterdam.

Drug traffickers have been known to come up with far more creative ideas than simply declaring a shipment of weed as “toys,” but regardless of creativity, these smuggling attempts rarely fool the nose of a trained K-9. Last year, cops busted traffickers trying to smuggle drugs hidden inside Kinder Eggs, pizza cheese, coffins, and a fake “baby bump.” Smugglers even attempted to sell drugs to federal prisoners by infusing them into the pages of Harry Potter books.

Cocaine traffickers have even cooked up their own smuggling schemes, ranging from one (pathetic) attempt to hide coke under a bad toupee to a brilliant attempt to infuse the drug directly into plastic. But, again, both attempts were foiled by the authorities. 

Better luck next time, bootleggers.