Drug dealing really may be rocket science

[BlueMystic]

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http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,161609,00.html



Drug Rocket Fails to Take Off
Tuesday, July 05, 2005


Drug dealing really may be rocket science.

Two accused methamphetamine traffickers apparently rigged up their car so that if cops closed in, a small rocket carrying their stash would pop up from the trunk and launch itself far from the long arm of the law.

For some reason, the rocket never achieved liftoff when Missouri State Highway Patrol (search) officers pulled over Michael Ray Sullivan, 41, and Joseph C. Seidl, 39, both of Kentucky, on June 24 in Kingdom City.

The $13,534 in cash in the 1990 Ford Thunderbird was interesting enough, Kansas City U.S. Attorney's Office spokesman Don Ledford told the Columbia (Mo.) Daily Tribune.

Far more intriguing was what was in the trunk: three dud pipe bombs and a "hobby-style" rocket, three to four feet long, all packed with meth worth up to $145,000.

Ledford explained that a web of ropes and pulleys lifted the rocket into launch position when the trunk lid was opened. The rocket could then be ignited from inside the car using the dashboard cigarette lighter.

Cops are pretty certain the rocket was meant to be an escape pod for the drugs, but Ledford diplomatically declined to speculate.

"But they did have the meth inside the rocket," he admitted, "and it could be launched from inside the car."
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