Avianca Busted in MIA - Coke and Peanuts
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Avianca Busted in MIA - Coke and Peanuts
Posted on Fri, Oct. 31, 2003
MIAMI
Agents discover cocaine among in-flight snacks
A drug-sniffing dog alerted authorities to packages with $20K worth of illegal drugs.
BY TERE FIGUERAS
Coffee, tea or....cocaine?
Federal agents inspecting a Colombian passenger plane Thursday found the powdery drug concealed in dozens of travel-sized peanut bags.
The packages, stowed alongside the coffee and drinks on the Avianca jet, were confiscated by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents shortly after the plane touched down at Miami International Airport.
A drug-sniffing German shepherd named Kaya was brought onto Flight 002 from Barranquilla, Colombia, as part of routine airplane patrols. Kaya alerted her handlers to the galley.
''They began examining the food, the sugar packets and coffee,'' said Zachary Mann, a Customs spokesman in Miami. ``Ultimately, an agent picked up the peanut packet, squeezed it, and a poof of white powder came out.''
It wasn't salt.
A total of 51 packets of Mani Salado, or salted peanuts, were found filled with cocaine.
There were no arrests, said Mann. The agency will question both airline employees as well as the company that packages the nuts in Colombia. The cocaine-filled packets were not distributed to passengers, Mann said. Homeland security offices nationwide were asked to scrutinize the galleys of incoming international flights, Mann said.
Thursday's seizure netted about 2.6 pounds of cocaine with a wholesale price of about $20,000.
Not a major bust in terms of size, Mann said: Customs agents seized more than a million dollars' worth aboard a boat last week off the coast of Miami.
But the failed plan's ingenuity -- and potential for hurting unsuspecting travelers -- is a sign of the lengths would-be smugglers will go.
''We've seen all kinds of things,'' said Mann, ticking off a list of drug-filled goodies discovered in the past, including cocaine and heroin lollipops and cocaine gum balls with a faux candy coating.
In 1999, an American Airlines pilot was unwittingly served heroin-laced coffee on a flight from Cali, Colombia. He spat out the drink. Agents eventually found 15 pounds of heroin hidden in coffee filters as part of Operation Ramp Rats, in which 58 people were arrested on smuggling and other charges. Even the humble pistachio nut has served sinister needs.
''You pop open the shells and there's heroin inside,'' explained Jeffrey Baldwin who as interim port director for the bureau oversees patrols of the airport and the waterways. ``First time I've seen peanuts, though.''
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald...al/7149933.htm
MIAMI
Agents discover cocaine among in-flight snacks
A drug-sniffing dog alerted authorities to packages with $20K worth of illegal drugs.
BY TERE FIGUERAS
Coffee, tea or....cocaine?
Federal agents inspecting a Colombian passenger plane Thursday found the powdery drug concealed in dozens of travel-sized peanut bags.
The packages, stowed alongside the coffee and drinks on the Avianca jet, were confiscated by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents shortly after the plane touched down at Miami International Airport.
A drug-sniffing German shepherd named Kaya was brought onto Flight 002 from Barranquilla, Colombia, as part of routine airplane patrols. Kaya alerted her handlers to the galley.
''They began examining the food, the sugar packets and coffee,'' said Zachary Mann, a Customs spokesman in Miami. ``Ultimately, an agent picked up the peanut packet, squeezed it, and a poof of white powder came out.''
It wasn't salt.
A total of 51 packets of Mani Salado, or salted peanuts, were found filled with cocaine.
There were no arrests, said Mann. The agency will question both airline employees as well as the company that packages the nuts in Colombia. The cocaine-filled packets were not distributed to passengers, Mann said. Homeland security offices nationwide were asked to scrutinize the galleys of incoming international flights, Mann said.
Thursday's seizure netted about 2.6 pounds of cocaine with a wholesale price of about $20,000.
Not a major bust in terms of size, Mann said: Customs agents seized more than a million dollars' worth aboard a boat last week off the coast of Miami.
But the failed plan's ingenuity -- and potential for hurting unsuspecting travelers -- is a sign of the lengths would-be smugglers will go.
''We've seen all kinds of things,'' said Mann, ticking off a list of drug-filled goodies discovered in the past, including cocaine and heroin lollipops and cocaine gum balls with a faux candy coating.
In 1999, an American Airlines pilot was unwittingly served heroin-laced coffee on a flight from Cali, Colombia. He spat out the drink. Agents eventually found 15 pounds of heroin hidden in coffee filters as part of Operation Ramp Rats, in which 58 people were arrested on smuggling and other charges. Even the humble pistachio nut has served sinister needs.
''You pop open the shells and there's heroin inside,'' explained Jeffrey Baldwin who as interim port director for the bureau oversees patrols of the airport and the waterways. ``First time I've seen peanuts, though.''
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald...al/7149933.htm
