Officers seize $1 million of heroin at Wilmington DHL hub

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers have seized $1 million worth of heroin shipped through DHL’s Wilmington hub and stashed inside hollowed-out books. Customs spokesman Brett Sturgeon fficers targeted the shipments for inspection partly because of their Iranian origins. Submitted photo

Submitted photo U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers have seized $1 million worth of heroin shipped through DHL’s Wilmington hub and stashed inside hollowed-out books. Customs spokesman Brett Sturgeon fficers targeted the shipments for inspection partly because of their Iranian origins. Submitted photo

ENLARGE PHOTO

Proving that you can’t judge a book by its cover, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers have seized $1 million worth of heroin shipped through DHL’s Wilmington hub and stashed inside hollowed-out books.

ENLARGE PHOTO

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By Tom Beyerlein, Staff Writer Updated 2:53 PM Friday, April 24, 2009

WILMINGTON — Proving that you can’t judge a book by its cover, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers have seized $1 million worth of heroin shipped through DHL’s Wilmington hub and stashed inside hollowed-out books.

A total of 7.75 kilograms of heroin was sent in four separate shipments of two “books” each from Tehran, Iran, bound for Toronto, Customs spokesman Brett Sturgeon said Friday, April 24. Customs inspectors based at DHL found the contraband on April 17 and 22.

Sturgeon said officers targeted the shipments for inspection partly because of their Iranian origins and ran them through an X-ray machine, which revealed “anomalies” in the packages. Upon opening the packages, officers found they contained books with no pages, filled with bags of heroin, he said.

“I don’t want to come across that we only examine stuff from Iran, because that’s not true,” he said. “It’s definitely a significant seizure.”

There have been no arrests. Sturgeon said DHL has no connection to the case other than being the shipper chosen by the drug dealers.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2264 or tbeyerlein@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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