A woman was arrested at an Atlanta airport after she was caught smuggling around $40,000 worth of cocaine hidden in several pairs of shoes.
According to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), a 21-year-old woman from Georgia was stopped for further inspection by agents after returning to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport from Jamaica.
Shoes are made for walking not smuggling #cocaine. “Smugglers go through great lengths to conceal drugs from our officers,” said @CBP Port Director at @ATLairport https://t.co/gkA2UnUnaW pic.twitter.com/8JscBTKWCH
— CBP Southeast (@CBPSoutheast) May 4, 2021
A CBP spokesperson said officers went through the woman’s bags and discovered seven pairs of shoes with a “white powdery substance concealed in the shoe bottoms that field tested positive for cocaine.”
In total, the seized cocaine weighed approximately three pounds with a street value of around $40,000. The woman was turned over to the Clayton County Police Department, where she will await state prosecution.
“Smugglers go through great lengths to conceal drugs from our officers,” CBP Port Director for Atlanta Paula Rivera said. “Narcotics interdiction remains a priority CBP enforcement mission, one that we take very seriously.”
The smuggling issues at airports aren’t just limited to cocaine, as a passenger flying from India to Savannah, Georgia, in February was caught smuggling nearly $100,000 worth of erectile dysfunction pills.
Earlier this year in India, two men were arrested at an airport after security officers found nearly $400,000 in gold hidden under their wigs and in their rectums.
