NEWARK — U.S. customs authorities seized 45 pounds of cocaine worth more than $2 million during a routine bag inspection at Newark Liberty International Airport. Officials say the drugs arrived aboard a flight from the Dominican Republic in an untagged duffel bag June 11.No one attempted to claim the bag and no one was arrested.The 35 brick-shaped objects containing the cocaine were detected during X-ray inspections.
The Newark-area seizure was the second of the week for U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents. They seized 84 pounds of cocaine at the Port of Newark during a routine search of a metal shipping container from Panama on June 8. Those drugs had a street value of more than $4 million.
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Customs officials seize 5.3 kg of crystal meth at airport
Customs officials at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport outside Jakarta have seized a combined 5.32 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine, worth Rp 10.64 billion (US$989,520), from three people arriving from Hong Kong on Tuesday.
Eko Darmanto, head of the customs investigation section at the airport, said the suspects arrived with the drugs aboard Garuda flight 683.
One of the suspects, a 54-year-old Indonesian woman identified as Ani, was arrested at midnight Monday while going through the airport’s random security check.
Airport officials first became suspicious of an X-ray scan of her luggage, and decided to check further.
The crystal meth was found concealed in a makeshift compartment in her suitcase. The drugs were separated into three packages wrapped in cloth and plastic.
Ani’s passport showed she had travelled between Hong Kong and Jakarta four times, though officials could not yet confirm whether her previous flights were also drug runs.
Eko said officials then contacted the National Narcotics Agency (BNN). The case uncovered the involvement of three more suspects, identified as FS, DD and NN, who were arrested in Taman Palem Cengkareng, West Jakarta.
After Tuesday evening’s press conference, the customs office handed the four suspects over to the BNN.
In March, the BNN arrested a heroin trafficker arriving from Malaysia. The suspect was found carrying 3 kilograms of heroin capsules neatly packed inside three boxes of chocolates.
The seized heroin was brought from South Africa via Malaysia.
As the case developed, the police declared two more suspects, both of them Malaysians.
In February, a member of the Pariaman City Council in West Sumatra, identified only as BA, was nabbed at the airport for carrying crystal meth. Airport police arrested him at the departure gate with 7 grams of the drug.
Officers checking his luggage at the gate found suction pipes and cigarette lighters.
Since January 2009, Soekarno-Hatta International Airport customs officials have thwarted three smuggling attempts by international travelers and nine smuggling attempts by domestic travelers.
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