16 kilos cocaine found in UN mailroom in New York

New York - Sixteen kilograms of cocaine were discovered last week in the mailroom at UN headquarters in New York, the world body said.

UN employees found the stimulant in two mailbags that they decided to search because they had wrong UN logos printed on them, the United Nations said Thursday, 10 days after the cocaine was discovered.

The bags had been sent from Mexico and contained no name or address. The senders apparently hoped that their contraband would be taken for diplomatic post and would not be searched but what they hadn’t counted on was that they would actually be delivered to the UN, authorities said.

The sacks contained 14 hollowed-out books. Each contained more than 1 kilogram of cocaine.

UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said the find had "no relation to the United Nations." The bags were found at UN headquarters but were apparently not sent from another UN office, he said.

As a result, New York police and not UN security personnel are investigating.//DPA