US Border: Big Airport Drug Busts Snare Smugglers
Cocaine, Heroin, Pot -- and High-Dollar Designer Goods - are Seized by the Feds.
Drug Smugglers are increasingly using U.S. East Coast Airports - as evidenced by several large drug busts Federal Officers have reported in recent days (totaling almost $3 million):
Chocolate-covered cocaine at Dulles (DC):
US Customs & Border Protection (CBP) officers discovered more than 28 pounds of cocaine concealed inside 10 packages of hot chocolate beverage base while examining a food shipment brought through Dulles (DC) International Airport by a Guatemalan courier.
The CBP didn't release a street value of this seizure - but, based on current data, it's well over half a million dollars.
Heroin inside "instant coffee" (also at Dulles):
DC Dulles CBP Officers inspecting another courier shipment (again from Guatemala - see a pattern?) took a closer look at bags of what were supposed to contain coffee -- and found heroin instead.
The heroin - in the three packages of "coffee" - weighed in at one pound, 12 ounces with a street value of about $55,000.
Smugglers send hundreds of pounds of pot through Philly Airport bound for UK:
CBP Officers at the Philadelphia International Airport have busted several large shipments of pot some US smugglers meant to send on to the United Kingdom in recent days. (High-potency pot can fetch premium prices in Europe vs the US).
The largest of these seizures occurred at one freight-forwarding facility over several days earlier this month totaling 343 pounds. The marijuana had a combined street value of about $1.5 million. Depending on potency, these parcels could have fetched two to three times more than their US value in London.
The parcels were being shipped from multiple addresses in California to multiple addresses in the U.K.
Days earlier, CBP Officers had confiscated another 170 pounds of pot (worth $800,000 in the US)- again being shipped from multiple addresses in California to multiple addresses in the UK.
Undeclared (inbound) Bling at Philly International:
And finally (also from Philadelphia International Airport) comes a reminder to accurately declare any high-priced goods you may have purchased during a foreign trip once you arrive back in the States.
One arriving passenger thought CBP Officers wouldn't spot a half-dozen high-end pieces of clothing, accessories, and an expensive watch he had purchased abroad and packed with all his belongings.
Instead, the customs inspectors quickly picked out the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore watch, Gucci, Chanel, and Yves St Laurent handbags, a Dan John bomber jacket, and two pairs of Golden Goose Ball Star sneakers - all undeclared and totaling more than $80,000!
The man faces the choice of a heavy fine or surrendering his foreign purchases to the U.S. Government. He also faces the likelihood of being booted from the "Global Entry" trusted traveler program - and can probably look forward to receiving "extra attention" from CBP officers when he arrives in the U.S. from any future foreign travel.
Are federal security measures currently in place at US airports adequate?
Share your opinion in the comments on this article!
Abrazos,
Jack Beavers
