A closer looks at several duty-free rum bottles arriving with a passenger at John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK) on November 17, 2014 turned into a major drug bust by U. S. Customs and Border Protection officers.
Related — GUIDE: Can You Bring Alcohol On A Plane?
Four large bottles of El Dorado Rum (a Rum brand produced by Demerara Distillers in Guyana) seemed suspicious when CBP Officers noticed the liquid appeared thicker than usual. The suspect, arrived on a flight from Georgetown, Guyana, possessed four bottles of the rum, two each in duty-free shopping bags.
Upon opening the bottle in a secondary screening room, CBP officers detected an “unusual chemical odor.” (From my personal experience as a police officer and attorney, I can tell you that cocaine and cocaine-based products smell BAD!) The liquid tested positive for cocaine.
The suspect, a U.S. citizen, was arrested for the importation of a controlled substance. The CBP reported the total weight of cocaine found in the two bottles seized was approximately 18 lbs. with an approximate street value of $310,000. He will face federal charges for narcotics smuggling, prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the U.S. Eastern District Court of New York.
Those would make for some expensive Rum & Cokes!
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And I keep giving away drink coupons. That would be quite the round.