Customs Officers Find Cocaine-Filled Chicken

An traveler arriving at Dulles Airport from El Salvador is in jail this morning after Customs and Border Protection officers took a closer look at the fully cooked chicken he was carrying. Inside was $4,300 worth of cocaine.

According to the CBP, the alleged smuggler, Wagner Mauricio Linares Aragon, 32, of Guatemala, landed shortly after midnight. During a secondary inspection, officers discovered two small clear plastic bags inside the chicken's cavity. The white powdery substance inside the plastic bags tested positive for cocaine. The cocaine weighed 60.4 grams, or 2.3 ounces.

"CBP officers have seen many unique narcotics concealment methods, and they all present the same challenges to discover them. Our officer's inspection was very thorough and earned solid results," Christopher Hess, CBP Port Director for the Port of Washington, said in a statement about the arrest. "CBP officers remain vigilant to detect creative concealment methods, and to stem the flow of illegal narcotics from reaching our nation's streets."

CBP turned Linares Aragon and the cocaine over to the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Police shortly after 7 a.m. CBP also issued a detainer on Linares Aragon to be presented to CBP upon the adjudication of his charges.