Woman caught trying to smuggle 31 pounds of marijuana at BWI, customs officers say
BALTIMORE - More than 30 pounds of marijuana was seized from a passenger attempting to smuggle to London from BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport, according to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
The passenger, a 22-year-old woman from California, has not been charged but a criminal investigation is ongoing, the agency said.
On February 25, CBP officers found the marijuana in a suitcase being loaded onto the Reykjavik, Iceland-bound flight.
Officials said the passenger had follow-on travel to London.
The passenger was identified by the baggage tag and was stopped at the departure gate.
The agency said officers took both the traveler and suitcase to CBP's inspection station where officers extracted 30 vacuum-sealed packages of marijuana from the suitcase. Collectively, the marijuana packages weighed 14.47 kilograms, or 31 pounds, 14 ounces.
The marijuana had a street value of as much as $150,000 in the United States, depending on potency, but could fetch two to three times more in Europe, CBP officials said.
The CBP says it has observed an increasing trend of United States-based growers and retailers shipping marijuana to Europe and Africa where high-quality weed can fetch prices many times higher than in the U.S. CBP officers usually see the marijuana being exported in smaller parcels, but occasionally officers encounter travelers carrying marijuana-stuffed suitcases.
