Tahlia Perea busted for smuggling 104 pounds of marijuana in quinceanera plaques
A quinceanara is an important rite of passage for fifteen-year-old young women. But for Tahlia Perea, a passage she allegedly attempted at age eighteen proved problematic.
Big photos below.
She was busted for trying to cross the Mexico-U.S. border with more than a hundred pounds of marijuana hidden in mirrored quinceanara plaques. See photos below.
According to 7News, Perea was attempting to drive from Palomas, Mexico to Columbus, New Mexico in a 2002 Ford Explorer when U.S. Customs agents singled out the vehicle for a close inspection.
Inside were boxes filled with quinceanara doodads. Apparently, the load piqued staffers' interest, because one of them drilled into a plaque and discovered cannabis pressed thin and flat into the frame.
Brick weed? Not quite, but close -- and there was a lot of it. Pot was found in a hundred of the plaques and totaled 104 pounds in weight.
Perea has now been turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and will likely be charged with drug-importation. Meanwhile, in a statement, Robert Reza, director of Customs department's Columbus port, said, "This seizure illustrates that smugglers will go to great lengths in the effort to conceal their contraband. No expense was spared in the production of these smuggling tools."
Too bad a hundred fifteen-year-olds will now have no way to remember their quinceanara. Look below to see three photos of the haul, supplied by U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
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More from our Marijuana archive: "Operation Sweet Leaf busts justified by damage to society, commander says."
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