A San Pedro man was sentenced this week to more than three years in federal prison for attempting to send four pounds of opium to himself in a statue of a bull, authorities said. The drugs were sent from Turkey and intercepted in Germany, where federal authorities mailed the man a replica with a tracking device that alerted when he attempted to get the drugs in San Pedro, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Saeed Tarki, 47, pleaded guilty in April to attempting to import the drug. Apparently he might have seen less time if he had helped the feds find a bigger fish to fry, but his information as a potential informer turned out to be useless — kind of like the bull statue.

Tarki's particular objet d'art was declared as $14 worth of fine Turkish kitsch. We all know, however, that four pounds of Mongolian mellow powder is worth a lot more than that.

-With reporting from City News Service. Got news? Email us.

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