Student arrested for trying to sneak meth-soaked T-shirts through LAX in hidden compartment in suitcase
A student from the United Kingdom was nabbed trying to sneak more than a dozen meth-encrusted Target T-shirts through Los Angeles International Airport in her luggage earlier this month.
Myah Saakwa-Mante, 20, was on her way to meet her boyfriend for the first time in Australia when she decided to stop in LA for a couple of days, according to CBS News.
But airport officers noticed that an X-ray machine had flagged her luggage for anomalies on Nov. 2 — and when they searched it, they allegedly found shirts “caked with methamphetamine” inside, the station said.
The white T-shirts — which according to court documents were “hidden under the suitcase’s internal lining” — likely contained several kilograms of the illicit drug that had become entwined with the fabric.
“Due to the moisture, the suspected methamphetamine was caked into the T-shirts and so could not be separated,” the documents said.
The meth-soaked shirts weighed nearly 30 pounds on their own, according to Fox News.
Customs officials stopped her at the gate and questioned her about the suitcase — but Saakwa-Mante allegedly denied any knowledge about the drugged-up tees.
Saakwa-Mante did admit to buying the shirts — she even had receipts, CBS said.
Authorities brought her to the bag screening area, seized her two cell phones and arrested her, Fox added.
In the affidavit, Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent Omar Yasin wrote that the meth was “originally in a powder form and then the powder was ‘washed’ using a solvent and then blended /melded into the t-shirts.”
Saakwa-Mante has been charged with possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and is currently in federal custody.
