STERLING, VA (7News) — Dulles Customer and Border Protection (CBP) discovered 71 pounds of marijuana in a woman’s airport baggage, the agency announced on November 22nd.
The woman, identified as Doo Lee Park, 30, was traveling to London, England, when police found her.
On November 23, Washington Metropolitan Airports Authority (MWAA) police arrested a Texas woman on suspicion of possessing a large amount of narcotics. She was charged with felony possession with intent to distribute, transportation of a controlled substance into the Commonwealth and drug conspiracy, officials said.
CBP officers said they were screening baggage to be loaded onto a flight to London late on November 22 when they encountered two hard-sided suitcases containing large vacuum-sealed bags of marijuana. .
Officers identified the traveler using his baggage tag and escorted Park and his two suitcases from the departure gate to a CBP inspection area. There, officers removed a total of 60 vacuum-sealed bags containing a total of 32.52 kilograms, or 71 pounds, 11 ounces, of marijuana.
The retail price of this marijuana in the United States reached as much as $330,000. Depending on potency, this load could be two to three times more expensive in London.
The seizure is the latest in a trend of passengers smuggling large quantities of marijuana and hashish into Europe, according to Dulles CBP.
In April and March, MWAA police arrested a Houston woman who tried to smuggle 43 pounds of marijuana into the United Kingdom and a Maryland woman who tried to smuggle 53 pounds of marijuana into Paris.
Officials say CBP officers and agents seized an average of 2,339 pounds of dangerous drugs between our nation’s air, sea and land ports of entry last year.
