It wasn't just the twinkling diamante sequins covering this horse head sculpture that attracted the attention of New Zealand customs officers.

A closer look revealed 35 kilos of cocaine hidden inside worth an estimated 10 million U.S. dollars 

"There is a significant organised crime group offshore that will be responsible for this and who have now lost a whole lot of money," an official said. 

New Zealand broadcaster TVNZ says an American and a Mexican were arrested trying to board a flight to Hawaii on July 1st.

Another man from Mexico was held following a police search at an apartment block in Christchurch a day later.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.