Dulles International Airport in Virginia USA is not just any airport. It
is home to the Pentagon, CIA (Langley is a few just miles away) and the
world’s largest naval base (Norfolk). It serves the capital of America,
the majority of people visiting The White House will pass through it,
being a 30min drive to Washington DC. Yet, the number of people
attempting to smuggle drugs through this most high profile of airports
is staggering, and on the increase.
http://www.drugjail.com
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| Dulles Airport: Drug Smugglers Caught |
On Dec 26th, 68 year old Nana Tweneboah, arrived from Ghana via
Amsterdam with a case that was so heavy, it caught the interest of
customs officers. The woman is facing federal drug smuggling charges
after the lining was opened and approximately 5kg of suspected heroin
was discovered.
Just days earlier, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers seized
approximately 100kg of khat. The illegal 'green leafy plant' was sent
from Doha, Qatar to Washington Dulles International Airport in a freight
container. The plant which is popular in East Africa due to its
stimulant properties, is currently legal in some countries outside
America. In UK, Large quantities pass through , legally.
On 15 Dec, border officers decided to search a Guatemalan man’s heavy
pots of stew. The initial search was to ensure agricultural safety and
other related issues concerning food importation. Cocaine was
discovered, hidden inside the walls of the posts of stew, approximately
1kg of the white powder was seized. Unusually, the man was arrested but
not charged and is now in the hands of asylum officers, having claimed
claimed that his deportation to Guatemala poses a risk to his safety. A
CBP officer, stated that the situation is ironic. 'here we have a man
who has tried to smuggle drugs into our country, got caught and now is
claiming asylum because he is scared to go back and face the people who
he smuggled for'.
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| RECORD BREAKING AMOUNT OF DRUGS SWALLOWED: 52-year-old Bola Adebisi arrested at Dulles International Airport having swallowed 180 pellets of heroin in March 2012 |
Earlier this year, a Nigerian woman, 52-year-old Bola Adebisi was
arrested at Dulles International Airport having swallowed 180 pellets of
heroin. The largest amount of heroin ever ingested according to U.S
Customs and Border Protection officials. The estimated value was $150k
and the weight was just over 2kg. Incredibly, a year earlier, in March
2011, at the very same airport, Dulles International, a 46 year old
Nigerian man, Yomade Aborishade, was arrested after he was found to have
swallowed 1.8kg of heroin. He pleaded guilty. Both cases are being
prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of
Virginia.
In a clear example of the brazen but often unprepared attempts to
smuggle drugs through high profile airports, Bola Adebisi had initially
told officers she was coming to the U.S. to visit her brother, but was
unable to describe him or provide an address. Her stomach appeared
unusually hard during an initial search and this resulted in an x-ray
being arranged.
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| Heroin capsules (180) inside 1 woman's stomach breaking a smuggling record. |
In US, criminals caught drug smuggling large quantities of class A
narcotics (known as 'schedule 1') face a maximum of life in prison. The
maximum penalties for this offence are: a mandatory minimum term of
imprisonment of ten (10) years, a maximum term of life imprisonment, a
fine of $10,000,000,full restitution, a special assessment, and at least
five (5) years of supervised release.
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