STERLING, Va. – A Manchester, England-bound woman is facing felony drug charges after U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers found nearly 43 pounds of marijuana in her luggage at Washington Dulles International Airport on Thursday.
Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) Police officers charged Lakedra Hamilton, 26, of Houston, Texas, with felony possession with intent to distribute.
CBP has observed an increasing trend of United States-based marijuana being smuggled in bulk to Europe and Africa where high-quality weed can fetch prices many times higher than in the U.S.
CBP officers were inspecting baggage being loaded onto an Ireland-bound flight when they encountered large, vacuum-sealed bags of marijuana concealed in clothing in two hard sided suitcases.
CBP officers identified the traveler through baggage tags and offloaded Hamilton from the aircraft. Officers escorted Hamilton and the two suitcases to CBP’s inspection station where officers retrieved two vacuum-sealed bags of a green, leafy substance. The substance field-tested positive for marijuana.
The marijuana weighed a combined 19.497 kilograms, or about 43 pounds, and has a street value of as much as $200,000 in the United States, depending on potency. This load could fetch two to three times more in London.
Hamilton was scheduled to travel from Ireland to Manchester.
CBP officers turned Hamilton and the marijuana over to MWAA Police officers.
“We hope that this seizure and arrest serves as a warning to other would-be drug couriers that Customs and Border Protection will seize their illicit product and our partners will hold smugglers accountable through aggressive prosecutions,” said Marc E. Calixte, CBP’s Area Port Director for the Area Port of Washington, D.C. “Travelers should remember that marijuana remains illegal federally, and smugglers may face severe consequences when CBP catches them.”
This seizure is the latest in a trend of passengers smuggling bulk amounts of marijuana and hashish to Europe.
On March 14, MWAA Police arrested a Maryland woman after CBP officers intercepted 53 pounds of marijuana that she intended to smuggle to Paris. On February 28, Virginia State Police arrested a California man after CBP discovered 88 pounds of hashish in his Brazil-bound baggage. And Virginia State troopers also arrested two Nevada men after CBP officers discovered a 73-pound marijuana load in their Paris-bound baggage.
CBP officers and agents seized an average of 2,895 pounds of dangerous drugs every day at and between our nation’s air, sea, and land ports of entry. See what else CBP accomplished during “A Typical Day” in 2022.
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.
