Liquid Heroin Found in Fruit Juice Boxes

MIAMI – Nearly 100 fruit juice boxes containing liquid heroin were intercepted Wednesday in a shipment from Colombia, federal officials said.

The juice boxes were part of a private shipment that wasn’t destined for the United States food supply, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents said. The juice would be deadly if consumed.

The 6-ounce boxes, labeled “Hit Fruit Drink,” contained a total of about 84 pounds of heroin worth $1.7 million.

Customs agents said the juice was initially bought from a grocery store in Colombia, then emptied and refilled with heroin. The shipment was relabeled and five pallets of boxes were shipped alongside pallets of legitimate juice boxes, the agents said.

The pallets were intercepted at an undisclosed location in Miami and federal agents are working to track the drug dealers responsible, customs agents said.

In 1990, a 25-year-old man died after drinking a cocaine-laced Colombian soft drink that was part of a drug smuggling scheme. It went awry when burglars broke into a warehouse, stole cases of the drink not knowing what they contained, and sold them to local grocers.

The FBI discovered at least 45 contaminated bottles of Pony Malta, some on store shelves.