The Mexican navy seized nearly 10 tons of liquid methamphetamine that was hidden in tequila bottles getting ready for shipment, CNN reports.
The discovery was made thanks to the use of drug-sniffing dogs and a chemical identification system, which discovered the 9.5 tons of liquid meth after authorities began searching a massive container near the port of Manzanillo on the western coast of Mexico. After scouring through 960 boxes, samples were pulled from a handful of the 11,520 reported tequila bottles and sent to a navy laboratory for testing, which confirmed the liquid substance inside the bottles to be that of Methamphetamine.
Liquid meth is often recovered by smugglers and taken to specialized facilities where the water is removed and the drug is solidified back into its original crystal form.
This massive discovery comes after the Mexican navy has already seized and destroyed nearly 114 tons of meth this year, per a statement shared with CNN.
Earlier this month, Italian police also retrieved over two tons of cocaine that they found loosely bobbing around in the ocean. The authorities suspect it was worth about 400 million euros (or nearly $450 million).
The massive haul was discovered in the sea off eastern Sicily, with the product wrapped in protective plastic. Investigators theorized that a cargo ship likely left the product in the ocean intentionally, and planned for another ship to scoop it up and bring the product to land.
After obtaining the 1,600 packets of cocaine, police aircraft flew over the area of sea to see if they could spot any other drug bundles that could have been separated from the initial packages.
