Ecstasy Found Disguised As Minion-Shaped Children’s Vitamins, Hidden In Kids’ Play Set
Among countless scare-tactic social media posts claiming that drugs are being hidden in all kinds of everyday objects, there occasionally comes a true story. This week has brought the internet a terrifying report about a stash of ecstasy disguised as children’s vitamins shaped like the Minions characters from the movie Despicable Me. What’s worse, the ecstasy pills were being smuggled from the Netherlands to Chile inside a children’s drawing kit.
According to the Huffington Post, Chilean officials seized more than 100 ecstasy chewables shaped made to look like adorable Minions characters, stamped and dyed bright colors just like a Minions vitamin you might find in a grocery store. Of course, the smugglers were probably more interested in hiding the Minions ecstasy pills while traveling than tricking children into eating them, but they didn’t make out of the airport either way.
Authorities announced that the Minions pills were found at Santiago International Airport on Thursday. They were on their way to the Chilean city of Vina Del Mar from an unknown distributor in Holland. Infobae reported that the Minions drugs were discovered by Control Unit Drug Metropolitan Regional Customs using “risk profiles” to intercept the ecstasy based on certain signifiers that tend to indicate criminal activity.
Two men were arrested at the scene for smuggling the Minions ecstasy, a Chilean and an Argentine man. Both were placed under house arrest in an apartment in Vina Del Mar until an investigation can be conducted.
In the photo below, you can see the children’s drawing kit in which the smugglers hid the Minions ecstasy. While the drugs were hidden within several layers of innocent-looking cargo, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense for children’s Minions vitamins to be contained inside of a play set.
Aduanas decomisó éxtasis con forma de “Minions” en Aeropuerto de Santiago. Droga tenía como destino #VinadelMar pic.twitter.com/gFt291OK4M
— Aduanas de Chile (@AduanaCL) February 18, 2016
Perhaps coincidentally, another stash of drugs was uncovered the same day at the same airport by Chilean authorities. They found a pound of methamphetamine stashed inside a secret compartment at the bottom of three colorful backpacks. You can see a photo of the evidence below.
These drugs were headed for Sydney, Australia, from Cali, Colombia.
It’s a relief that the Minions-shaped ecstasy pills never made it into the hands of children, but you may be shocked to learn that ecstasy is disguised as Minions vitamins quite regularly. A quick web search on Minions ecstasy reveals a startling number of results from various ecstasy users showing off their Minions-shaped chewables, such as the ones below.
According to RT, shaping ecstasy like children’s candy or vitamins is a pretty widespread trend. Ecstasy has been disguised as multiple beloved characters like Mario and Superman. One man was even caught selling ecstasy made to look almost exactly like the bananas in the candy Runts.
Man pleads guilty for selling banana shaped ecstasy pills https://t.co/8CkQwxzZkO pic.twitter.com/voz66A94Mk
— spark alot (@sparklot) January 18, 2016
Another popular trend is hiding ecstasy in pills shaped like social media icons, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and more.
And if that wasn’t enough to unnerve any parents out there, ecstasy pills that don’t look like Minions or cartoon characters still tend to be brightly colored or made to resemble delicious, harmless candy.
Man arrested at JA Pengel airport with 6007 ecstasy pills https://t.co/gtYtzIeOqf pic.twitter.com/6VLHNUEucs
— Loop Suriname (@LoopSuriname) February 9, 2016
What do you think has sparked this trend of ecstasy pills shaped like Minions vitamins?
[Image via the NATIONAL CUSTOMS SERVICE OF CHILE]
