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…
