Germans seize cocaine on its way to Vatican
Pope Francis leads a mass in Saint Peter square at the Vatican on September 7, 2013. ANDREAS SOLARO/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
BERLIN – The drug haul was unremarkable, but the destination raised eyebrows.
German weekly Bild am Sonntag reported Sunday that customs officials intercepted a cocaine shipment destined for the Vatican in January.
Officers at Leipzig airport found 12 ounces of the drug packed into 14 condoms inside a shipment of cushions coming from South America.
The paper says the package was simply addressed to the Vatican postal office, meaning any of the Catholic mini-state’s 800 residents could have picked it up.
Citing a German customs report, the paper adds that a sting operation arranged with Vatican police didn’t lure a possible recipient. The drugs would have a street value of several tens of thousands of euros (dollars).
Neither German customs nor the Vatican could be immediately reached for comment.
