MURFRESBORO, Tenn. (WKRN) – Two Murfreesboro men were charged by the federal government on Wednesday with conspiring to ship “massive” amounts of methamphetamine to New Zealand.

U.S. Attorney Mark Wildasin (Middle District of Tennessee) said that in July 2019, U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Florida seized three packages from the Foreign Mail Center, United States Postal Service. The packages were reportedly shipped from Murfreesboro, Tennessee, with various shipping addresses listed in New Zealand.

Each package contained more than three pounds of methamphetamine. Homeland Security Investigations and the United States Postal Inspection Service have also determined that other similar packages may have been shipped from Murfreesboro, with some still in transit to their destination in New Zealand.

The US prosecutor said 18 similar packages were sent from Murfreesboro to New Zealand between June 25 and July 9, 2019. Law enforcement was able to intercept nine of the packages, which altogether contained more than 22 pounds of methamphetamine.

A statement from US Attorney Wildasin said that in most cases the meth was packaged in a cake box and the packages were identified as a “birthday present”. Two of the packages were discovered to have been mailed from the Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) mailroom in Murfreesboro on June 25, 2019. Investigators then allegedly gathered video footage from MTSU showing a vehicle and suspecting Steven Weaver, 50, and Jamie Woods. , 37 years. Both were arrested Wednesday by federal agents.

Officials said New Zealand authorities had also arrested several suspects and “dismantled a major drug trafficking organization operating out of New Zealand”.

If convicted, Weaver and Woods face a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years to life in prison.