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‘Shellfish’ drug smuggler at JFK Airport busted with kilos of cocaine stored in bags of jumbo shrimp: feds

Cocaine packages inset against lineup of planes at JFK Airport
Customs and Border Protection agents at Kennedy Airport found 18.45 kilograms of cocaine stuffed inside packages of jumbo shrimp inside luggage of a passenger from Guyana on Jan. 19, 2024.
Photo via Getty Images/Inset via U.S. Attorney Eastern District of New York

An alleged drug smuggler was busted at JFK Airport Friday for allegedly trying to illegally import cocaine hidden in bags of jumbo shrimp, federal prosecutors announced Saturday.

Zacharie Scott, 22, a U.S. citizen residing in Guyana, was caught with the drug-laden shrimp bundles in his bags upon departing an American Airlines flight that arrived at Kennedy Airport from the South American nation on Jan. 19.

Federal authorities said Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents at JFK selected Scott for secondary inspection and went through his luggage, where they found what, at first, appeared to be two containers of jumbo shrimp.

Upon further inspection, authorities said, the inspectors found concealed within the shrimp bundles numerous bricks of powder later revealed to be cocaine. The packages weighed 18.45 kilograms in total, and have an estimated street value of between $239,850 and $479,700.

Cocaine bundles seized from luggage at JFK Airport
Bundles of cocaine found concealed inside packages of shrimp allegedly found in Zacharie Scott’s luggage by customs agents at JFK Airport on Jan. 19, 2024U.S. Attorney Eastern District of New York
Cocaine bundles seized from luggage at JFK Airport
The bags of shrimp allegedly found in Zacharie Scott’s luggage on Jan. 19, 2024 concealed bricks of cocaine, according to federal agents.U.S. Attorney Eastern District of New York

During questioning, law enforcement sources said, Scott allegedly admitted to knowing it is wrong to smuggle cocaine into the U.S., but claimed he did it anyway for an expected payment from an unidentified individual of up to $6,000.

Members of the Department of Homeland Security arrested Scott on charges of unlawful importation of a controlled substance — a charge that carries with it a maximum sentence of up to 20 years in a federal penitentiary.

According to sources with the U.S. Attorney’s Eastern District of New York office, Scott was arraigned in Brooklyn federal court on Jan. 20 before Magistrate Judge Joseph Marutollo, who ordered him held pending a bail hearing scheduled for Jan. 23.

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