A Jamaican citizen who admitted to swallowing about 70 pellets of cocaine was arrested after arriving at Kennedy Airport, authorities said Tuesday.
The man, Gyan Damian Morgan, was taken into custody on April 19 after he arrived at the New York airport displaying sings of nervousness.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection Officers initially searched Morgan in a private search room, but didn’t find anything. But the Kingston, Jamaica resident’s story had holes in it, authorities said, and he was taken to a nearby medical facility where he allegedly admitted to having swallowed the drugs.
“This latest seizure demonstrates the vigilance of our [customs and border patrol] officers, and their excellence in detecting those who would swallow these illegal substances with the intention of delivering them into the United States,” Robert E. Perez, director of field operations in New York, said in a statement.
An x-ray confirmed the load and he was remanded until all the pellets — which weighed a total of about 2 pounds — had passed out of his system, authorities said. The drugs had an approximate street value of tens of thousands of dollars.
Morgan was indicted on federal narcotics smuggling charges.
This is the second recent cocaine bust involving smuggling from Jamaica. On April 16 officials found about 1 pound of cocaine hidden in two packages Romario Lewis’ groin area. Lewis, a Jamaican citizen who also arrived from Kingston, faces federal narcotics smuggling charges.
