"Columbian Police Seize Flavored Marijuana" -

Colombian Police Seize Flavored Marijuana

BOGOTA – Police seized marijuana cigarettes made with different flavors, including chocolate, strawberry, kiwi, peach and apple, being shipped from the southwestern Colombian city of Cartago to a city on the border with Ecuador, officials said.

Officers conducting an inspection at a checkpoint found 2,450 high-quality marijuana cigarettes on Saturday “wrapped in special paper impregnated with different flavors,” Cali Metropolitan Police chief Gen. Gustavo Ricaurte said.

The marijuana cigarettes, which were in glossy plastic packages resembling those used to sell candy, had been packed “in 49 cardboard boxes that have an excellent appearance and are very catchy for young people,” the police chief said.

The boxes had been shipped by an express company from Cartago to Ipiales, a city on the border with Ecuador.

“The cigarettes made from the hallucinogen come so they can be displayed in two units, according to investigative work conducted by specialists, and could cost between 30,000 and 40,000 pesos ($14 and $19), depending on the market where they are sold,” Ricaurte said.

Smugglers pack the marijuana cigarettes in colorful vacuum-packed containers to get them across national borders, the police chief said.

The flavoring, moreover, masks the smell of the marijuana, Ricaurte said.