U.N. workers find 35 pounds of cocaine

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UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 27 (UPI) -- A 35-pound stash of cocaine was found at the United Nations headquarters in New York in a bag fashioned to resemble a diplomatic pouch, police said.

Officials said the cocaine, stashed in hollowed-out books shipped from Mexico City, was found Jan. 16, CNN reported Friday.

"The actual pouch is blue and has a U.N. symbol, a lock and seal and words like 'Diplomatic Mail,'" New York police spokesman Paul Browne said. "This bag was white instead of blue and had no locked seal and no wording of any kind."

The bag was going through a screening process at the U.N. postal receiving center when authorities discovered the cocaine. Browne said the pouch didn't have either a destination address or a return address.

Martin Nesirky, a U.N. spokesman said, the package "was not connected to the United Nations and that's why the host government, the city authorities, in the shape of the NYPD [New York City Police Department], were brought in to assist."

The federal Drug Enforcement Administration also participated in the investigation.