A smuggling attempt was thwarted when a traveler being questioned by federal agents at Washington Dulles International Airport began expelling heroin pellets he had swallowed.
Michael B. Ayodele, of Queens, N.Y., arrived at Dulles on Jan. 16 on a flight from Zurich, Switzerland, according to a criminal complaint charging him with importing a controlled substance. His arrest comes as at least a half-dozen other people have been apprehended at Dulles after allegedly swallowing heroin pellets in the past nine months.
Ayodele was referred to Customs and Border Protection agents for a secondary inspection. He told the agents that he was returning from Nigeria, where he had been visiting family.
The complaint says he then asked to use the bathroom. Agents thought they heard items being dropped into a toilet and learned that Ayodele was expelling the swallowed heroin pellets, according to the complaint, which was filed in federal court in Alexandria.
Ayodele swallowed a total of 86 heroin pellets, the complaint says. Authorities say the pellets field-tested positive for heroin.
The pellets weighed about one kilogram, or about 2.4 pounds, the complaint says. According to CBP, heroin generally has a street value of about $70,000 per kilogram.
Officials say drug-smuggling through Dulles is a growing concern, fueled in part by more flights between the airport and high-trafficking nations in Africa and Latin America.
Earlier this month, another man was nabbed after allegedly swallowing about a pound of heroin pellets, according to court documents.
And last week, the leader of an international smuggling ring that targeted the mid-Atlantic by sending heroin in suitcases with couriers who flew into Dulles pleaded guilty. An airport security officer in Ghana has also been charged in connection with the operation.
Other, more-creative, heroin-smuggling attempts have also been thwarted. More than $315,000 in contraband was found in a traveler's soccer clothes in December, court documents say.
Cocaine, too, is smuggled into Virginia through the airport. CBP officers and drug-sniffing dogs have detected cocaine-filled juice boxes, clams, soup packets and religious statues in recent years.
Ayodele is in custody pending further court proceedings. A detention hearing is scheduled for Wednesday.
