Traveler Unwittingly Becomes Drug Mule After Smugglers Put His Name on Bag Containing $1.4M in Cocaine
Jackie Reddy April 07, 2015
A tourist returning from the Dominican Republic was unwittingly used as a drug mule in an attempt to smuggle over $1 million worth of cocaine into Europe.
A holidaymaker received an unwanted souvenir when officials at Nice Côte d’Azur Airport (NCE) discovered cocaine in a suitcase with his name on it. Fortunately for the unnamed traveler, who was returning from vacation in the Dominican Republic, when questioned, French customs officers soon realized that the bag did not belong to him.
Officials detained the baffled traveler last week while he was waiting for his luggage at NCE and proceeded to question him about the stash of cocaine. In a statement issued by France’s Directorate-General of Customs, the officers explained that they were satisfied that the bag did not belong to the man and that it was apparent that he was not attempting to smuggle drugs into the country.
French officials said that the cocaine, which was wrapped in a total of 18 packages weighing 46 pounds, had an estimated street value of around $1.4 million. After further investigation, officers learned that drug smugglers within the Dominican Republic had filled the bag with cocaine and used the hapless man’s identity in an attempt to bring the haul into France.
French authorities are working to establish exactly who packed the case, as well as how it ended up on the trans-Atlantic flight. Within the last year, officials have seized more than six tons of cocaine at the country’s ports of entry.
[Photo: iStock]
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Ah, yes. Because of course they put all of their forensic work in the article for you amateur Sherlock Holmeses to scrutinize and you've correctly found them lacking.
If it was not his bag, clearly there would be someone there waiting at the baggage claim to pick it up. If it was his bag, clearly he would say "no, this is not my bag" when questioned by police. Agreed as above, I just hope these police officers are not responsible for security as well..
Botched police work? Why couldn't they wait until someone collected the bag??? Did they seriously expect that the smuggler would accept ownership of the bag once they asked if the stash of drugs was his?
Well they probably have a record of who printed the baggage tag, no?