San Juan, P.R. - U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers seized 0.7 kilograms or 1.54 pounds heroin late yesterday from a U.S. citizen arriving this weekend from La Romana, Dominican Republic.
Ronny Rincon-Pineyro, 27, arrived Saturday at the Luis Munoz Marin International Airport on board an American Eagle flight, presenting himself for inspection by CBP.
Rincon-Pineyro was referred to secondary inspection, where he was further interviewed by CBP officers. During the course of the interview by CBP officers, Rincon-Pineyro admitted that he had swallowed narcotics pellets but did not know how many or what they contained.
The defendant was transported to a medical facility where an X-ray was taken by a certified technician who verified the presence of foreign objects the digestive tract.
Under medical supervision, the defendant finalized yesterday the expulsion of 49 pellets of suspected narcotics, which tested positive for heroin.
The custody of the defendant and the seized narcotics was transferred to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations for further investigation and presentation of criminal charges.
The U.S. Attorney's office accepted the case for prosecution.
The estimated street value of the seized heroin is $45,000.