Former Miss Jamaica runner-up accused of cocaine smuggling

[Disir]

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A JetBlue flight attendant accused of using her credentials to attempt to get 70 pounds of cocaine through airport security in Los Angeles before flinging off her heels and fleeing, has been arrested in New York, authorities said.

Marsha Gay Reynolds surrendered Wednesday to federal authorities at John F Kennedy International Airport, though it wasn't immediately clear how she reached New York, federal officials said.

Reynolds, a New York resident, was expected to be in federal court in Brooklyn on Thursday, according to US Attorney's spokesman Thom Mrozek.

Transportation Security Administration officials asked Reynolds to step aside for a random security screening Friday, authorities said. Reynolds went to a secondary screening area but quickly dropped her bag, ditched a pair of Gucci heels and fled barefoot downward on an upward-moving escalator, Marshall McClain, president of the union representing LAX airport police officers, said Monday.




Reynolds was charged with cocaine possession with intent to distribute. It was unclear if she yet had an attorney.
Mrozek said prosecutors believe reports that Reynolds was a runner-up in Miss Jamaica World 2008. New York University lists a Marsha-Gay Reynolds as having been on the school's 2004 women's track and field team, though it wasn't immediately clear if that was the same Reynolds arrested Wednesday.

On Friday, Reynolds arrived at an LAX checkpoint in Terminal 4 wearing jeans, heels and a black suit jacket, carrying her "known crew member badge," according to an FBI affidavit in support of the charge against Reynolds. It wasn't immediately clear whether she was on duty at the time.

When Reynolds was chosen for a random security screening, TSA Officer Jamie Samuel said the flight attendant became nervous and began looking around before pulling out her cellphone and making a call, according to the affidavit.

Samuel reported that Reynolds was talking on the phone in a foreign language as she was being taken to a secondary screening area, the affidavit says.

Once in the secondary screening area, TSA Officer Charles James asked for her identification.

"At this time, Reynolds dropped her carry-on luggage, removed her shoes and began to run away," according to the affidavit.

James saw Reynolds run down an upward-moving escalator and out of the terminal, the affidavit says, adding that the officer didn't pursue her because her abandoned luggage was his main concern.

LAX police soon after found 11 packages of cocaine wrapped in green cellophane and labeled, "BIG Ranch" inside one of the bags Reynolds had left behind, the affidavit says.

The cocaine weighed just over 68 pounds. Wholesale, the drugs would be worth about $750,000 in Los Angeles, said Special Agent Timothy Massino, a spokesman for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

On the streets of Los Angeles, Massino said the retail value of the cocaine could be as high as $3 million.
Former Miss Jamaica runner-up accused of cocaine smuggling - News

Insane,

 

[waltky]

Dat's a lot o' cocaine!...

Coast Guard unloads 14 tons of seized cocaine
April 8, 2016 -- The U.S. Coast Guard turned over 14 tons of cocaine seized from marine drug smugglers in the Pacific Ocean, some using submarine-type vessels, to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency.

The drugs, with a street value of some $400 million, were unloaded on pallets using a crane from a Coast Guard cutter on Thursday. The haul comes as a result of 14 marine operations between late January and early March from cutters Bertholf and Valiant, and the USS Lassen with a Coast Guard law enforcement detachment aboard.

The U.S. Coast Guard unloaded some 14 tons of cocaine seized from marine drug smugglers in the Pacific Ocean to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency​

Some 6.4 tons of haul came from a single bust from a self-propelled semi-submersible on March 3. Another 1,500 pounds of cocaine bales were found floating. Dozens of smugglers were arrested. "Taking tons of deadly drugs off the street and apprehending dozens of suspected smugglers not only saves lives here at home, but it also disrupts the efforts of international drug trafficking organizations who spread violence and instability wherever they operate," Rear Admiral Joseph Servidio, commander of the 11th Coast Guard District, said.

The Coast Guard, working from cutters, U.S. Navy ships and international partner nation ships, seized more than 158,000 pounds of cocaine in the Eastern Pacific drug traffic zone in fiscal year 2015. That's more than the totals in 2012, 2013 and 2014 combined, the Coast Guard said.

Coast Guard unloads 14 tons of seized cocaine

See also:

Nearly two dozen players named in major scheme to wash drug money in Miami, officials say
April 7, 2016 -- Miami authorities on Thursday announced nearly two dozen arrest warrants for associates aligned with drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman -- all of whom were allegedly involved in an underground drug money-laundering scheme.

Nearly a dozen Miami-Dade businesses are linked to the operations, which investigators say moved millions of dollars in illegal cocaine profits to Colombia. Prosecutors announced arrest warrants for 22 individuals -- some of whom have been taken into custody and some still at large. "The organization we are attacking today was capable of laundering approximately $1 million per month through businesses just in the Miami area," State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said at a news conference Thursday afternoon. "They use Miami's strong international economy as the actual funnel all of their international money-laundering operations. ... We are surely the global hub for money laundering."

Three of the suspects were arrested in Miami this week, one in Boston and one in Colombia, officials said. "The drug trafficking organizations in question were operating throughout the United States, but they used Miami's strong international economy as the actual funnel for all of their money laundering operations," Rundle added. Most of those sought are still fugitives, officials said. Thursday's announcement follows a two-year investigation, called Operation Neymar, conducted by agents with the U.S. Homeland Security Department, Miami-Dade police and Florida prosecutors.

The money-laundering system -- called the "black market peso exchange" -- is a drug-fueled, underground lending system that officials believe is used by hundreds of South Florida businesses. Among those arrested linked to the Miami-Dade operations is Juan Manuel Alvarez Inzunza, who allegedly laundered about $4 billion in the past 10 years for Guzman's Sinaloa Cartel. Police said Inzunza -- nicknamed "El Rey Midas" or "King Midas" -- laundered between $300 million and $400 million a year from the Guzman's cartel through a network of companies and currency exchange centers in Mexico, the United States, Colombia and Panama.

The scheme involves Mexican cartels buying Colombian drug products on credit, and then sell them through the Americas before finally paying the Colombian operatives back in U.S. currency. That cash would then be converted to Colombian pesos by selling those dollars to Colombian businesses that receive better exchange rates than the legitimate currency exchange marketplace. Investigators said Operation Neymar has netted authorities about $1 million in cash.

Nearly two dozen players named in major scheme to wash drug money in Miami, officials say

 

[Unkotare]

Post some actual words of your own ^^^^^^