Esteban Galtes, the 23-year-old Miami resident due in L.A. federal court today for smuggling blow, could have at least waited until springtime to disguise his stash in little pastel candies shaped like Easter eggs.

When asked why he was carrying the candies through LAX last Thursday, Galtes told U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers that they were for his two kids.

Believable enough, but mightn't chocolate reindeer have been a tad more conspicuous? We're sure his weeklong stay in Colombia didn't help much, either.

“Drug traffickers are always trying novel ways to conceal their contraband,'' L.A. Customs director Carlos Martel told City News Service.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Claude Arnold got a little more smug over at NBC Los Angeles: “Cocaine camouflaged as Easter candy is one of the more unusual tactics we've come across,” he said. “Obviously two days before Christmas, this defendant didn't expect his trip would end with federal officers conducting an Easter egg hunt.”

Hidden within the eggs — and under the cardboard liner of a shopping bag — was 14 pounds of cocaine, estimated to be worth $100,000.

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