Summary

  • A drug smuggler was caught at Detroit airport recently before he could board a connecting flight.
  • Cocaine was found in three bags, leading to the arrest of the culprit.
  • Drug smuggling is not uncommon at airports; Los Angeles and Seoul are some of the airports that witness many cases of narcotics trafficking.

Among the many things that airport officials have to keep a close eye on are attempts at drug smuggling. A recent incident at Detroit airport led to the arrest of one man who tried to smuggle more than 30 pounds of cocaine by booking a Delta flight at the last minute.

Flights booked at the last minute

Earlier this month, officials at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport (DTW) arrested a passenger who was trying to transport around 33 pounds of cocaine through the airport via a connecting flight.

According to ClickOnDetroit, Woodrow Campbell booked a last-minute Delta Air Lines flight on June 6 from Los Angeles to Saginaw in Michigan, with a layover at DTW. He made the booking less than 24 hours before the first flight was scheduled to take off on June 7.

A Delta aircraft at Detroit airport.
Photo: alisafarov | Shutterstock

According to officials who are familiar with drug smuggling activities at airports, drug traffickers sometimes resort to last-minute bookings to throw law enforcement agents off track. According to the report, Campbell had a previous record of drug smuggling when he abandoned a checked bag at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport in May 2023, from which more than 10 pounds of cocaine was recovered.

Cocaine found in three bags

Campbell had stuffed the cocaine in three bags, two of which arrived on the incoming flight. ClickOnDetroit reports that officials with the Wayne County Airport Authority’s Airport Special Investigations Unit approached gate A18 on June 7 and pulled aside two bags with Campbell’s tag when they were offloaded.

A Delta Air Lines Boeing 737-900ER flying in the sky.

Photo: Philip Pilosian | Shutterstock

A dog trained to detect drugs indicated its presence inside the bags, which were then locked in a room. Campbell’s third bag was scheduled to arrive at DTW from LAX at around 14:30, and a dog also indicated the presence of drugs in it.

Given the nature of the flight booking, the drug dog’s indication, and Campbell’s previous attempt to smuggle drugs, a warrant was issued to check his bags. Officials revealed that each of those three bags contained five compressed, rectangular bricks of cocaine wrapped in men’s clothing. Campbell was arrested at the gate from which he was boarding his connecting flight to Saginaw.

Not the first time

Of course, this isn’t the first time that drugs have been caught at an airport; in fact, some airports are considered hotspots for drug smuggling. According to some law enforcement officers, Los Angeles is potentially one of the main drug smuggling points in the entire world. Simple Flying has covered this in detail in the article below.

Related

Los Angeles International Airport Reported To Be The Drug Smuggling Hub Of The World

This is according to law enforecement officers involved in an investigation.

In November 2023, a private aircraft that was scheduled to fly from Teterboro Airport in New Jersey to Liverpool in the UK was found to carry 28 pounds of cocaine and 500 pounds of marijuana. Two individuals were arrested in that case.

Seoul Incheon International Airport has also lately witnessed an increase in drug smuggling into South Korea by gangs, with the amount of narcotics smuggled into the country increasing from 129,362 grams in 2020 to 538,241 grams in 2022.

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