@nunyazz: No, that's why you're not in airport security. :-)

TKWarrior

Dang, that was a pretty awesome idea, execution was almost perfect...except for the fact they obviously didnt give it a good look over to check for any powder. Also the 10 thermos is about 10/10 suspect...why go to this much trouble to make an almost perfect smuggling scheme then make it completly obvious by having him walk around with a bag full of thermos?

tin

@murph: LOL!
@nutbastard: ok got it XD

EL_RIEL

dammit. now my Guitar Hero 3 party is ruined this weekend!

murph

at first look i thought its a dead fish.

Amiash

@aseriesoftubes:
no, never completely solid, and this probably is a knock off anyways. goddamn, a knock off of a squire. maybe not.

nutbastard

@robotica: burn!!!! lol

y2julio

The dude might as well be dead. Losing $5 M of someone else's stuff, yep, the movies are tame compared to real life.

TheBear91

Someone finally found a good use for a Squire guitar.

robotica

Wait, Strats and their ilk are usually solid, right? But obviously this thing was hollow, and from the first pic, it appears to be made of some type of metal. Sounds like this was a pretty advanced operation to me.

aseriesoftubes

I just looked at it again, it looks like a huge York Peppermint Patty.

nutbastard

I can't decide whether it's funnier that he went to all the trouble of hiding cocaine in a guitar, only to bring 10 thermoses full, making hiding it in the guitar completely pointless, or that it was the guitar that got him caught and not the thermoses.

Empire

"Why, sure Officer, by J.J. Cale? I can play that..."

"She dont lie, she dont lie, she dont lie... "

ANoel

Looks like a wonderful York candy bar! Yumm! Love that minty filling!

zarchitect

I'm too hyper for coke. I do enjoy sugar, do they have a model filled with sugar?

gokor

Why did the tard leave the sticker on the guitar? Who goes to Coasta Rica just to buy a guitar? This numbnut was asking for it. He should have taken the time to make it look a little used.

Bistroengine

@jibbly: ha ha ha, THIS IS A TSA BULLETIN ALL TRAVELERS WITH GUITARS MUST SUBMIT TO A SPECIAL SCREENING IN WHICH WE WILL SAW YOUR GUITAR IN HALF TO CHECK WHATEVER IS INSIDE, WE TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR DAMAGE TO YOUR GUITAR AND WE WILL DO OUR BEST TO "TRY" TO REASSEMBLE IT AFTER SAWING IT IN HALF... THANK YOU FOR FLYING UN-UNIITED AIRLINES

alin0steglinski

@nutbastard: Don't forget that 1 kilo of pure cocaine translates into 3+ kilos of street crap after its been stepped on a few times.

I agree that the price is inflated but it isn't too much out of the realm of reality.

nospamsam

@EL_RIEL:

most coke is diluted to about half strength AFAIK. so even if this was pure, yet-to-be-cut blow, again, at gram prices its only worth $1M, (assuming 10 kilos) a far cry from $5.12M

nutbastard

Eric Clapton...guitar great...cocaine...his song cocaine...DAMN I hate it when I connect the dots after the fact.

You got cocaine on my guitar, you got guitar on my cocaine...

sshrum

You don't need to be a drug dealer to get to Electric Ladyland. It's on West 8th Street. Just take the A/C/E to the West 4th Street Station.

omg-ponies

The DEA uses the same math RIAA does...

noremac

@nutbastard:

Do you think dealers sell pure cocaine?
From what i have seen in movies they not!! LOL!!!
I think they can made at least 20 kg from a 1kg google it and let us know, lol

EL_RIEL

It's not Clapton's 'Blackie' its 'Whitey'.

Also - its pretty clever getting the neck to stay on with string tension.

Probably the TSA guy picked it up and noticed how bad it played ....

flyboy

@tdj114:
it's hardly creativity, people have been filling hollow things with all manner of materials for thousands of years to avoid detection.

He should have just flown with George Lucas, who could have fit all 10 kilos up his nose and no one would think anything was wrong if he started, you know, doing stupid shit.

nutbastard

It's the Eric Clapton special.

leicaman

@AhnyerKeester:
dude, a guitar is a piece of electronic equipment with no practical uses that's been case modded to have a practical use. How is that NOT a gizmo?

nutbastard

@AhnyerKeester:

Don't care, it's a good story and I'm sorry but props to the guy who thought of this. Had it not been for the wee little hole that led to a couple of milligrams worth of blow escaping, no one would be the wiser, including the x-ray machines. Now if only dude could harness that creativity for more legal means...

tdj114

5.12 million is a rediculously inflated figure. there can't be more than a few kilos there. even with the thermoses (which was stupid), lets say he had 10 kilos, or around 20 pounds. A kilo at gram street prices as of 3 years ago (and I've heard they're lower now) would be $50,000 per kilo. ($50 / gram) so thats $500,000 if he sold it gram by gram

Where does the DEA get their pricing? DO they take the $100-$150 gram of coke of the '80s and add inflation? It just goes to show how out of touch these agencys are with their respective populations.

nutbastard

And this is gizmo related...how?

AhnyerKeester

Dang... that's a lot of blow. Time to find a new hiding place now that this one's out of the bag.

chillywilly

Only guys called Charlie White are allowed to report such stories

snrub

of all the people to write this one up, it's charlie white. hahaha.

tazzo

Totally dude!

kevjohn

@DustyButt:

if it is, you win an internet for noticing.

DataScream

Great thanks guy for making the life of actual traveling musicians a living hell when we fly with our guitars, as if doing so isn't a pain in the ass already. Now I have to worry about the TSA sawing my guitar in half.

Why couldn't you just have swallowed a bunch of balloons like the other mules?

jibbly

I heard that model of guitar is called the "Lohan".

Is this true???

DustyButt

DAMN, I was really counting on that making it's way to the Twin Cities.

TerryinSt.Paul

Dang... I would have never look there...
I guess that is why I'm not a drug runner LOL..

nunyazz

@nutbastard: How do they get their figures? They carefully calculate the amount of cocaine, adjusted by its purity and origin. Then they apply its whitebook value. They assess the value discounted to its expected distribution date using a debt-equity weighted average of the capital structures of the distributing entities, taking into account fluctuations in the correlated commodities markets, the LIBOR, and the number of flecks of foam on Alan Greenspan's lips in his latest televised appearance.

Then they throw out the result and write down $5.12 million to get credit for a bigger bust.

Pender

These guys check everything, I was carrying my guitar through Logan about 11 years ago coming the Philippines and the case was lined with Anhydrous copper sulfate. The chemical is used as a drying agent and keeps my guitar rust free. It also has a distinct smell, so the customs occifer was kind enough to ask me to open the guitar case and then proceeded to rip it to shreds he then completely took apart my guitar, and was too f#cking lazy to put it back together so not only did I miss my connecting flight, but I had to carry my guitar in a dozen pieces around the airport for the next couple of hours.

Barfolemew