Drugs are drugs, no matter how cute or comical you make them. That didn’t seem to matter to a 23-year-old woman from North Vancouver, who reportedly tried to smuggle at least $1 million worth of drugs over the U.S. border last month.
Authorities claim Krysta Edwards tried to smuggle 107,734 pills called BZP (or N-benzylpiperazine, a mimic drug for ecstasy) across to Washington in her car. All the pills were shaped as cartoon characters from The Simpsons and Transformers.
Edward’s Ford Explorer was carrying approximately 60 pounds of the illegal Homer Simpson and Megatron pills, according to CTV News. They were found in a hidden compartment in a cargo area.
“This is the second major ecstasy seizure at the Pacific Highway Port of Entry this month, and signals the intensity of the illicit narcotic trade,” port director Greg Alvarez told the publication.
After authorities followed her to a storage unit and she pretended not to know about the stash, Edwards was arrested June 26 and was charged with drug possession with the intention of distributing them.
According to U.S. Customs and Border Patrol public affairs officer Chief Thomas Schreiber, BZP uses a base drug that is legal in Canada. “It’s a synthetic drug that is a strong stimulant and lasts about six or eight hours,” he told The Province.
The chemical was originally meant to deworm cattle, but it increased in popularity when club-goers in New Zealand caught onto its ecstasy-like properties in the 2000s. Street names include Legal E or Legal X.
According to The Province, Health Canada began evaluating the drug in 2008, but hasn’t yet classified it as a banned substance.
Edwards has a preliminary hearing on July 13 in Seattle. If convicted she could spend up to 20 years in a U.S. prison.
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