Cruise Passengers Busted With $2.6 Million Yayo Found In Cheetos Bags

Source: VINCENZO PINTO / Getty

The Cocaine Was Expected To Be Distributed Throughout Europe

A powdery substance was found in some Cheetos bags sans the cheesy Cheeto-y flavor.

According to New York Daily News, $2.6 million dollars-worth of cocaine was discovered on a cruise ship over the weekend, and it was hidden in Cheetos bags and ceramic bowls.

Cops from the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) arrest 12 suspects over the weekend for their alleged involvement in the the smuggling scheme. In total, 40 pounds of cocaine were seized, along with cash and cell phones, according to the NCA. Those charged included six women and six men between the ages of 20 and 52. Two of them are UK citizens and one is a Dutch national living in London, said the NCA.

The suspects were arrested in Madeira, Portugal, and they will be tried in the country’s court system. Four of them had just arrived from the Caribbean on the MSC Opera, and all of them were allegedly planning to travel from the island of Madeira to “various locations in Europe,” said the NCA.

“We believe this operation will have seriously disrupted an organized crime group looking to traffic cocaine into the UK and Europe,” explained Allan Round, NCA operations manager at the Joint Border Intelligence Unit. “Working with our Portuguese colleagues we have been able to act on intelligence at speed and prevent this quantity of drugs from reaching its final destination.”

The 18-kilogram being carried had a potential street value of more than £2 million, the NCA said, or $2.6 million.

“Once in the UK we know cocaine generates huge profits for criminal networks who are also involved in street violence and exploitation,” the NCA said, “so stopping it will help reduce the harm caused by them.”

The MSC Opera cruise line has yet to release a statement, according to USA Today.