AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND (NBC) — New Zealand customs and police seized 77 pounds of cocaine brought into the country inside a diamante-encrusted horse head.
The discovery was made back in May when the airfrieght package was delivered to an address in Auckland where police were carrying out surveillance.
On Friday, July 1, New Zealand media reported two suspects, a 44-year-old Mexican and a 56-year-old American man, were arrested by police trying to board a flight to Hawaii.
Following searches at an airport block in Christchurch on Saturday, July 2, a third man from Mexico was also arrested.
The drugs, packaged into 35 bricks weight about two pounds each, were pushed up inside a cavity in the horse’s neck before being mounted on its stand.
New Zealand media reported the drugs haul is worth an estimated $10 million.