Federal agents have arrested two drug traffickers in Houston who claim to have collaborated with corrupt police in a cunning scam to bolster their business.

Mario Alejandro Solis, 37, and Carlos Aron Oyervides, 40, of Houston, Texas say that they involved local cops in a scheme involving drug busts and fake cocaine. A criminal complaint filed against the pair lays out some of the details:

ADVERTISEMENT

“On March 18, 2013, investigators with the Edcouch Police Department seized approximately 19 kilograms of cocaine apparently left in a taxi. A further examination of the bundles revealed that four bundles contained wooden blocks.” “On April 26 2013, investigators with the Houston Police Department sized approximately 18 kilograms of cocaine from an abandoned 1996 Mazda minivan near Loma Linda Road… Lab analysis of the bundles indicated that they contained less than 1% cocaine.”

What could these pitiful “cocaine” seizures mean?

Solis and Oyervides allege that they would work with local police staging drug busts against other cocaine traffickers. The corrupt cops would hand over the real cocaine to their two collaborators (presumably for a significant fee), then turn in fake cocaine as their official “haul.” Solis and Oyervides would proceed to sell the real stuff.

The official complaints against both Solis and Oyervides mention corrupt police, lending credence to their story:

“Co-conspirators staged a seizure of the sham cocaine by corrupt officers. The real cocaine was then sold for profit.”

ADVERTISEMENT

There have been other examples of police involved in comparable schemes. In April 2015 an investigator with the Starr Country High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force was arrested for filing false police reports, allowing drug dealers to operate more freely. Another recent incident involved a Hidalgo County District Attorney’s Office investigator, who wrote also fake police reports to help dealers steal from competitors without arousing suspicion.