PHILADELPHIA – Two women are facing felony drug possession charges after U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at Philadelphia International Airport discovered 114 pounds of marijuana in their London-bound suitcases on Tuesday.
Agents from the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office charged Anetta Rachell Collins, 49, of Ventura, Calif., and Ty Taanetia Anettra Angel Mason, 24, of Las Vegas, Nevada, with felony possession with intent to distribute.
While inspecting baggage being loaded onto a London-bound flight, officers discovered a green leafy substance in vacuum-sealed bags in four soft-sided suitcases. CBP narcotics detector dog Fredo, a 2-year-old male German shepherd, alerted to the contents of the vacuum-sealed bags.
CBP officers at the departure gate identified the travelers associated with the baggage and escorted them back to CBP’s inspection station.
CBP officers conducted baggage examinations and counted 102 vacuum-sealed bags. The contents field-tested positive for marijuana.
The combined marijuana weighed 51.7 kilograms, or 114 pounds. It has a street value of about $580,000 in Philadelphia. Depending on potency, this load can fetch two to three times more in London.
Agents from the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office, working on Homeland Security Investigation’s Border Enforcement Security Task Force, took custody of Collins, Mason, and the marijuana and departed CBP’s inspection station.
Criminal charges are merely allegations. Defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.
CBP has observed a continuing trend of United States-based growers and retailers shipping marijuana to Europe and Africa where high-quality weed can fetch prices many times higher than in the U.S. CBP officers usually see the marijuana being exported in smaller parcels, but occasionally officers encounter travelers carrying marijuana-stuffed suitcases.
“Bulk marijuana smuggling is illegal, and Customs and Border Protection will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to hold smugglers accountable,” said Cleatus Hunt, CBP’s Area Port Director for the Area Port of Philadelphia. “Travelers who gamble with their freedom by smuggling bulk amounts of marijuana for a little extra cash may find themselves on the losing end of that proposition.”
Every day, CBP officers and agents seized an average of 2,339 pounds of dangerous drugs last year at and between our nation’s air, sea, and land ports of entry. See CBP’s enforcement stats to see what other dangerous drugs CBP is encountering at our nation’s borders.
CBP's border security mission is led at our nation’s Ports of Entry by CBP officers and agriculture specialists from the Office of Field Operations. CBP screens international travelers and cargo and searches for illicit narcotics, unreported currency, weapons, counterfeit consumer goods, prohibited agriculture, invasive weeds and pests, and other illicit products that could potentially harm the American public, U.S. businesses, and our nation’s safety and economic vitality.
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