On June 24, the Missouri State Highway Patrol pulled over two men in a 1990 Ford Thunderbird and discovered over $13,000 in cash riding along with them. They also discovered three pipe bombs in the trunk, as well as a four-foot-long rocket packed with meth. This was believed to be a complex evidence-disposal system, or at least that was the plan.

A complex system of ropes and pulleys lifted the rocket into launch position when the trunk was opened—or was supposed to—and the rocket could then be launched from inside the car using the cigarette lighter. Authorities suggested that the device was intended to foil a search by launching the drugs off into space, or the air, anyway, if the trunk were opened by police.

Surprisingly, it didn’t work.