TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – With help from the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau (MJIB), Thailand intercepted ketamine with an estimated street value of NT$600 million (US$18.41 million) hidden in what appeared to be Transformers models, reports said Friday (April 26).

The suspects divided 320 kilograms of ketamine into 320 packages with wrapping marked “Tie Guanyin” tea. The packages were then hidden inside the bases of models, CNA reported.

The ploy came to light in March after the discovery of a plan to ship drugs to Australia. A Thai woman involved in the case had also applied to export model robots based on the Transformers movies to an exhibition in Taiwan.

When Thai police raided a warehouse in Bangkok on Wednesday (April 24), they found the packages of drugs stuffed inside 10 Transporters, the Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB) said at a news conference Friday.

The woman, who was detained, worked for a drug dealer from Laos, while the ketamine originated in Cambodia. The MJIB is working on tracking the accomplices at the Taiwan end of the operation, the report said.