Crystal meth may not have helped a gang who came up with a simple ruse of getting jobs as Amazon delivery drivers and then simply loaded extra pallets from the depot onto their vehicle in order to steal thousands of Christmas presents.

The gang of three in Oklahoma, however, were caught after dumping the empty boxes illegally after looting the contents, which resulted in a littering complaint that put police onto their trail, with the cops then finding that the rubbish included mention of the address where all the stolen goods were being stored.

The raid on the property took place in a rural area of Oklahoma County, at the intersection of 206th and Harrah Road, outside of Oklahoma City, in the US state of Oklahoma, on 30th December.

The key to solving it was the discovery of the 600 empty Amazon packages that were dumped by the side of the road in an incident that made international headlines as they were reportedly Christmas presents that ended up not being delivered.

The Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office had asked residents not to call them about any missing deliveries, adding that they were working with USPS and Amazon about the matter.

The Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office have now said in a statement that they have “arrested three people tied to a massive Amazon theft ring involving thousands of dollars worth of product.”

The police explained that “deputies were called to the area of 206th and Harrah Road on a complaint of illegal dumping.

“When they arrived, deputies found about 600 empty Amazon packages dumped on the ground.”

The police also said that officers found a rubbish bag containing “an address and a receipt from a local store.”

They added: “Based on that information, investigators from the Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office obtained a warrant for a home at 203 South Birch Street in Luther.”

The police said that inside the property, investigators discovered “thousands of undelivered Amazon packages; some still wrapped on pallets in the home. Packages were stored throughout the home in almost every room and filled the storm shelter.”

The police said that they “believe Cesar Yasnier Cerqueira Rojas, an illegal immigrant from Cuba, was working as a third party driver for Amazon; delivering packages using a truck owned by 37-year-old Dinneris Matos Delgado, a legal immigrant from Cuba.

“Investigators believe Rojas may have loaded extra pallets onto the truck and brought them to the South Birch address where they were opened.”

The police also said that a 38-year-old who they named as Maikel Perez Laurencio was “also arrested in the scheme” and that they were also “a third party driver” and “an illegal immigrant”.

The police said that the three alleged criminals face 15 felony counts of possession of stolen property and embezzlement.

They added that “Delgato is also charged with Possession of a Controlled Dangerous Substance (Meth).”

The police said that they expected more charges to be filed at a later date.

Kelly Nantel, an Amazon spokesperson, said: “We are thankful for the quick investigative work of the Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office and are committed to taking care of any customers who may have been impacted by this criminal activity.

“Customers missing packages are encouraged to report any delays to Amazon customer service so we can work quickly to make it right.”

Sheriff Tommie Johnson III said: “Our investigations team and patrol deputies did an amazing job.”

He added: “It would have been easy to write this off as an illegal dumping case; but our deputies recognized this was much more serious and contacted investigators.

“Our investigators quickly identified a suspect and followed through to bring this case to a successful conclusion.”

The police said in their statement that the Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office had returned the seized packages to Amazon so that they could be re-delivered to their rightful owners.