A passenger flew into JFK Airport from the Dominican Republic with more than six pounds of cocaine hidden inside her hair products, US Customs officials said Friday.
Erika Rodriguez de los Santos arrived aboard a flight from Santo Domingo on Nov. 18, according to Anthony Bucci, a spokesman for Customs and Border Protection.
CBP officers confronted her about five unspecified “hair-product containers” that appeared to be unusually heavy within her luggage, Bucci said.
The containers “produced an oil-like substance that tested positive for cocaine” — 6.27 pounds of it.
The bust will not only likely keep Santos out of the beauty parlor for decades to come, but will serve as a permanent warning to other would-be drug smugglers, according to government officials.
“This latest seizure demonstrates the steadfastness of CBP officers on the ground to detect, detain and deter those who would try to smuggle these illegal substances,” said Robert E. Perez, CBP’s state director of field operations.
Santos faces federal narcotics-smuggling charges in Brooklyn Federal Court.