Federal prosecutors announced Tuesday that a 31-year-old man had been detained at the Los Angeles International Airport after attempting to check two suitcases filled with methamphetamine-doped clothing, including a cow pajamas onesie.
Specialists claim Northridge’s Raj Matharu checked two luggage before his trip to Sydney on November 6. However, when the red and white suitcases were X-rayed, an anomaly was discovered and the items were sent for another inspection.
According to a criminal complaint lodged in the Central District of California, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents discovered” white or light-colored clothing things dried thick and covered in a white residue” inside the backpacks.
The waste — which was found on items including boots, athletes, tank tops, pants, jeans, sweatshirts, underwear and a pair of cattle onesie pajamas — tested positive for meth, federal prosecutors say.
All the light-colored clothes in the briefcases was caked in the waste, while other clothing products were not, officials said. Federal prosecutors said the clothing was weighed 71 pounds, and authorities believe more than 30 pounds of meth answer had been soaked into the objects.
The clothing was likely “washed” in white methamphetamine and left to dry, according to a federal affidavit.
According to officials, Matharu was stopped at the United Airlines boarding gate where he admitted to having the suitcases and followed officers to an inspection area. He had used his personal credit card to pay$ 100 to check a second suitcase, according to prosecutors.
Matharu was taken into custody Nov. 7 and charged with one count of possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute, according to the U. S. attorney’s office for the Central District of California.
According to court records, he was released on a$ 10, 000 bond secured by a relative.
According to the facts of this case, “drug dealers are continually inventing creative ways to smuggle dangerous narcotics in search of illicit profit,” according to the U.S. Atty. Martin Estrada said in a statement.
The U. S. attorney’s office declined to comment on this particular tactic, but Matharu is not the first person arrested on suspicion of trying to fly with methamphetamine-soaked items.
On Nov. 2, customs officers at LAX found 13 white T-shirts caked in a powdery white substance in a suitcase. The substance tested positive for methamphetamine.
According to an affidavit filed in that case, the suitcase’s owner, who authorities identified as a British student by the name Myah Saakwa-Mante, claimed she purchased the items from Target and provided proof of it, but that she” claimed to have no knowledge” of the powder. Saakwa-Mante’s ultimate destination was Brisbane, Australia.
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