Worst Passenger of the Week: The Forbidden Inflight Delicacy

Every Friday, FlyerTalk looks back at the week’s most charming individuals. While there are always plenty of contenders for our Worst Passenger of the Week award, only one lucky flyer can take home the glory. Here are this week’s winners.

Third Place – Red Card!

Former Medellin, Colombia soccer star Diego Osorio made headlines last week after getting arrested at José María Córdova International Airport (MDE) with more than a kilogram of cocaine in his underpants. The seized drugs found on the football legend are said to have a street value of well over $50,000.

The star defender’s storied career with Medellin’s Atletico Nacional also included an appearance in the 1992 Summer Olympic games and a leading role in the 1991 and 1992 Copa Americas. Osorio reportedly told authorities that he was attempting to smuggle the drugs to Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport (MAD), explaining to police, “I am paying off a debt.”

This is not the 46-year-old former soccer great’s first run-in with drug interdiction forces. Osorio was arrested in 2002 in Miami, Florida on charges of drug possession and drug trafficking. The scheme involving the world-famous athlete seems to have ignored the first rule of international smuggling – keep a low profile. Perhaps an internationally recognized celebrity who has already been suspected of narcotics trafficking, might not have been the best under-the-radar-choice as a drug mule.

The Runner-up – Granny, Loverboy and $500K Worth of Blow at the DTW

At Cheryl Cheatham’s initial hearing for drug trafficking this week, a Detroit judge couldn’t resist commenting on her seemingly endless history of trouble. The 63-year-old grandmother has an impressive rap sheet that includes a series of convictions for shoplifting, drug possession and drug trafficking as well as a six-and-a-half-year prison stint for theft.

“People make bad choices when they’re younger,” Judge David Grand said in denying bail for the grandmother of three. The judge added that people normally tend to make better decisions as they grow older. “Unfortunately, in your situation, that doesn’t seem to have happened,” Grand noted. “Here we are in 2016 and you’re caught with this substantial amount of narcotics.”

Cheatham’s latest run-in with the law started at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW). Police say the saga that ended with the Phoenix, Arizona senior citizen in handcuffs involved a shadowy figure named “Loverboy,” an estimated $500 thousand worth of cocaine and a drug dog named Otto.

Federal agents reportedly noticed Cheatham acting in a suspicious manner at baggage claim after arriving on a flight from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport (PHX). Agents then followed her to a Detroit area hotel where she was eventually picked up by a Lincoln Navigator operated by a car service. The driver gave police permission to search his vehicle after K-9 Officer Otto alerted to drugs in the SUV. Evidence on Cheatham’s phone led police to believe she was arranging to hand the drugs over to a contact listed in her address book simply as “Loverboy.”

Agents told the court they recovered cocaine from two of the suitcases Cheatham had earlier claimed at the airport. ”This is a significant seizure in this area,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrea Hutting said. ”We can’t chalk this up to youth and immaturity. These are crimes she committed as an adult.”

The Winner – The Case of the Bird’s Nest Soup Smuggler

“Birds’ nests are created from the solidified saliva of birds and are used to make a soup or broth,” US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials matter-of-factly explained. “In some cultures they are considered a prized possession due to their high nutritional value and exceptional taste. Birds’ nests are high in calcium, iron, potassium and magnesium.”

Not surprisingly, the valuable and objectively icky delicacy is also banned from being brought into the US, as birds’ nests are considered “likely carriers of infectious diseases.”

CBP agents at George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) this week, however, discovered a large cache of the birds’ nests hidden in a passenger’s bag. The passenger who had just arrived in the US from Vietnam, reportedly concealed 30 of the nests in a box of herbs. The passenger received a $300 fine for not declaring the agricultural product and the nests, likely worth thousands of dollars, which were seized and destroyed.

“CBP’s agriculture mission requires that we safeguard America’s agricultural and natural resources,” Port Director Charles Perez said in a statement. “Our agriculture specialists recognize the importance of intercepting these types of smuggling attempts to prevent the spread of infectious diseases and harmful pests that have not been introduced into our agriculture. Seizures like this one keep that threat at bay.”

According to officials, the threats posed by illicitly imported, petrified bird saliva include Newcastle Disease and the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (H5N1) virus.

The idea of turning a nest made of bird spit into a viscous soup might sound disgusting to the layman, but the dish is purported to have time-tested medicinal qualities. A warm bird’s nest soup also sounds slightly more appealing than the thought of an economy-class meal from the cart parked in the galley.

[Photo: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS]