Feds in Ga. say they found $500,000 of cocaine in horse saddle
(CBS) - Authorities in Georgia say they uncovered $500,000 of cocaine inside a horse saddle that they tracked to their state after it crossed the U.S.-Mexico border.
FOX5 in Atlanta reported that federal agents said they discovered the saddle as it crossed the border, and immediately launched "Operation Urban Cowboy," which followed it to a DeKalb County, Ga. store.
Law enforcement officials had informed the store owner, Raj Shah, and were at the store when an unidentified man and woman came to pick up the package.
Police had Raj hand the suspects the package. "I said, 'Here's the package, it's a little heavy I can't carry it, can you carry it,' so he [the man] carried it out and he walked out the door and the police took over," Shah said. Then police took over.The pair who walked out with the package were arrested with drug trafficking at the scene. Police said they found five kilograms of cocaine valued at $500,000 in the layers of the saddle.
Upon seeing the contents of the package, the store owner said he was
shocked.
"It just looked like a horse saddle and then they opened the layers and they found so many things," said Shah.
FOX 5 reports federal agents said the bust was part of an ongoing operation to identify drugs coming into Georgia and elsewhere in the U.S. through postal services.