Two highway travelers carrying cocaine in the airbag compartment of their vehicle died following a car crash in Mexico, according to a press release from the National Security Commission in Mexico City.
The wreck occurred on Highway 101 near San Fernando in the northern-border state of Tamaulipas last week, where police responded to the incident and found 23 packages of white powder containing “cocaine characteristics” wrapped in foil and plastic — 55 pounds in total — inside of the passenger airbag compartment (clever, unless you actually need the airbag).
The driver’s airbag did deploy during the wreck, according to The Guardian. Responders transported driver and passenger to a nearby hospital, where both later died from their injuries.
Out of curiosity as to how much that car crash was actually worth monetarily (you know, minus the car value), I dug up the some stats from Business Insider that report a kilogram of cocaine to be worth $15,000 to $20,000 in the U.S. We don’t know for sure if the cocaine-filled vehicle was on its way to the U.S., but the wreck did occur in a state just south of the border.
So if we think about this, the 25 kilograms of cocaine carried by that airbag compartment were worth (give it a second... writers doing math isn’t the quickest process) up to half a million dollars in total. But, we’re not quite sure that’s worth foregoing an airbag.
Also, if authorities happen to show up at my door after an extensive internet search of cocaine street prices, you guys know the real story behind my research. It’s been a good three weeks writing for you.
Photo credit: Mexican Federal Police
Contact the author at alanis.king@jalopnik.com.