Cops: Man tried to smuggle cocaine cookies worth $50k into U.S.

NEWARK, N.J. - Authorities said a batch of cookies confiscated at Newark Liberty International Airport earlier this month had a street value of over $50,000. That's because they had 118 pellets of cocaine baked into them, according to officials with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) at the New Jersey airport.

A spokesman for the agency said Thursday that customs officers made the discovery June 5 during a routine examination of luggage from passengers arriving on a flight from Guatemala City.

Customs officials said Guatemalan citizen Mauricio Isidro Rivera Hernandez was arrested after officers allegedly discovered the cookies in his three checked bags.

He was handed over to the police department of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and faces state charges of narcotics smuggling.

"CBP officers remain ever vigilant in protecting the United States from the distribution of dangerous drugs, regardless of the concealment methods employed by would-be smugglers," said Robert Perez, Director of CBP's New York Field Operations, according to CBS New York.

It is not immediately known if Hernandez has retained an attorney.