A woman was arrested for allegedly attempting to smuggle nearly half a million dollars worth of cocaine into the United States in the wheels of her wheelchair after authorities said they noticed the wheels would not turn.
Emelinda Paulino De Rivas, a citizen from the Dominican Republic, arrived in New York City on November 10 at John F. Kennedy Airport on a flight from Punta Cana in a wheelchair. When U.S. Customs and Border Protection noticed the wheels were not turning, they decided to interview her.
The officers x-rayed the wheelchair and apparently noticed an anomaly on all four wheels. They probed the wheels and reportedly found a white powder that tested positive for cocaine.
Officers allegedly found 28 pounds of cocaine hidden inside the wheels of the wheelchair. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said that translates to 75,000 doses of the drug with a street value of $450,000.
“A lethal dose of cocaine is roughly one to three grams, so the amount seized by CBP and kept out of our neighborhoods amounts to roughly 6,000 lethal doses,” CBP said in a statement following the arrest.
De Rivas was arrested and placed in the custody of Homeland Security Investigations. She is facing federal narcotics smuggling charges and will be prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District Court of New York, according to CBP. A trial date has not yet been set.
“CBP stands steadfast and determined in working with our partners to identify the transnational criminal networks responsible for importing these deadly drugs into our neighborhoods,” said Francis J. Russo, Director of CBP’s New York Field Operations. “CBP’s mission is to guard the borders and ports of entry 24/7, 365 days a year, to prevent these dangerous drugs from potentially killing our family, friends, and neighbors.”
This incident marks the second time in a matter of months that cocaine was allegedly found in a wheelchair, according to CBS News. In September, drug-sniffing dogs led police in the Milan Malpensa airport to allegedly discover nearly 30 pounds of the substance hidden in the cushion of a motorized wheelchair.