Narcotics Smuggling Charges For U.S. Citizen Busted On Flight From Trinidad

News Americas, JAMAICA, N.Y. Weds. July 30, 2014:  A U.S. citizen arriving from Trinidad & Tobago on a recent flight into New York now faces federal narcotics smuggling charges.

Elkan Barak Durham was ‘sniffed’ out by a U.S. Customs and Border Protection K-9 at John F. Kennedy International Airport after trying to smuggle cocaine into the United States.

CBP officers conducted a canine examination of luggage arriving from Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, when K-9 Ari alerted a CBP handler to a suspicious suitcase.

Durham, a United States citizen, claimed the suitcase and was escorted to a private search room where the suitcase was probed revealing a white powder that tested positive for cocaine.

Durham was arrested for the importation of a controlled substance and was turned over to Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).  The total weight of cocaine seized was approximately 9 lbs.  The approximate street value of the seized narcotic is $151,000.

Durham will be prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the U.S. Eastern District Court of New York.