Coke Found In Jamaican Beef Patties

The coke was found duct-taped in 12 packages in a box of Tastee’s Jamaican beef patties. (US Customs image)

By NAN Staff Writer

News Americas, QUEENS, NY, Fri. Jan. 20, 2017: A Jamaican woman is now facing federal narcotics smuggling charge after arriving in New York City from her native country with a box of Jamaican beef patties filled with cocaine.

U.S. Customs officers’ at the J.F.K. Airport busted Chantal Alecia Bedward’s with a box of Tastee’s Jamaican beef patties that included cocaine, authorities said Thursday. The coke was found duct-taped in 12 packages containing a white powder that tested positive for cocaine. The value of the approximately four pounds of the drug was put at US $70,000.

Bedward was arrested on a charge of importation of a controlled substance and turned over to Homeland Security Investigations. She will be prosecuted in federal court in Brooklyn.

“This seizure demonstrates the vigilance and dedication demonstrated daily by CBP officers at JFK, in keeping these prohibited and dangerous narcotics off the streets of our communities,” said Robert E. Perez, Director, Field Operations in New York for CBP.