Meth found hidden in picture frames


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PITTSBURGH ?  Customs officers say they found a kilogram of methamphetamine hidden in two large picture frames of religious artwork. The frames were delivered to a Pittsburgh store from Mexico.

Federal court documents unsealed Friday say that customs officials intercepted the package at a shipping facility in Memphis last week and discovered the frames were hollow and contained long black packages filled with white powder.

A Pennsylvania state police trooper working undercover as a parcel delivery man allowed the Pittsburgh store owner to sign for the package. Court documents say another man picked it up about four hours later.

That man was arrested. Carmel Rojas-Perez is being held without bail on a drug smuggling charge.

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A package delivered to an Oakland store from Mexico contained two large framed pictures of religious figures and about a kilogram of methamphetamine, according to court documents unsealed Friday in federal court.

Michael O'Neill, a special agent with Homeland Security Investigations, said in an affidavit that the person who picked up the package on Aug. 28 admitted receiving another picture the week before.

U.S. Magistrate Cynthia Reed Eddy found probable cause during a Thursday preliminary hearing to hold Carmel Rojas-Perez, age unavailable, pending trial on a smuggling charge. Rojas-Perez waived a detention hearing and is being held without bail.

Rojas-Perez told agents he came to the country illegally in 1993 and a friend in Mexico named Angel sent the frames, according to the affidavit.

Customs officers initially intercepted the package at the FedEx hub in Memphis, O'Neill said in his affidavit. It was on its way from Toluca, Mexico, to the Las Palmas store on Atwood Street in Oakland. Discovering the white powder secreted in the picture frames, they sealed the package and gave it to Homeland Security Investigations so agents could conduct a controlled delivery.

State Trooper Joshua Giran, working undercover as a parcel delivery man, allowed the store owner to sign for the package. The owner set it on a shelf and Rojas-Perez showed up about four hours later to collect it, the affidavit said.

Agents waited until Rojas-Perez took it into a second-floor apartment before arresting him and conducting a search. The frames of the pictures were hollow and contained long, black packages of meth, the affidavit said.

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