Authorities: Jamaican Man Tried To Smuggle Cocaine Through JFK Airport By Swallowing 70 Pellets
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A passenger arriving at JFK Airport from Jamaica was arrested last month after he swallowed about 2 pounds of cocaine pellets, authorities said.
Gyan Damian Morgan, a Jamaican citizen, was acting suspiciously during an inspection by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers on April 19, authorities said. Then during a follow-up interview, he made several inconsistent statements, authorities said.
Morgan was transported to a medical facility near the airport, where he admitted to ingesting about 70 pellets of narcotics, officials said. An X-ray showed the foreign bodies in his somatch cavity, according to Customs and Border Protection.
Morgan was placed under arrest and held at the medical facility until all the pellets had passed through his system, officials said.
The amount of cocaine retrieved has an estimated street value of tens of thousands of dollars.
Morgan has been indicted on federal narcotics smuggling charges.
"This latest seizure demonstrates the vigilance of our CBP officers, and their excellence in detecting those who would swallow these illegal substances with the intention of delivering them into the United States," said Robert E. Perez, director of field operations for Customs and Border Protection in New York.
