Tesla-branded cocaine seized in Mexico

Tesla-branded cocaine seized in Mexico
Source: Mexico City Attorney General

We all have that one friend who just takes the joke way too far until, at best, it’s not funny anymore or, at worst, someone gets hurt.

Well, back in April, Elon Musk posted a tweet saying that he was buying Coca-Cola so that he could put the cocaine back into it. Of course, most everyone considered this a joke. That is, until Friday when Mexican authorities busted four men in two tractor trailers right outside of Mexico City, hauling 1.6 tons of cocaine stamped with Tesla and Prada branding through the city.

It isn’t unheard of for drug smugglers to use brands as a sort of code to tell other smugglers the quality of the drug, the type of drug or where that drug is headed. But so far, it isn’t clear whether or not the Tesla branding was for any of those purposes or rather just as a joke because of Elon’s recent tweet.

Either way, the four men smuggling the drugs from Colombia were arrested. They’re part of the Sinaloa cartel, which has in the past gotten into bloody firefights with police officers in Mexico. Mexico City Police Chief Omar Harfuch estimated that the cocaine had a street value of around US$20 million or roughly the price of 400 Tesla Model 3s.

It’s undoubtedly for the best that Musk isn’t connected to this highly-illegal business venture, though, as he has his hands already pretty full.