CHARLOTTE, N.C.—Federal authorities say a man has been arrested in Charlotte, North Carolina, after he was stopped in the city’s airport with more than 23 pounds of cocaine concealed in the seat cushions of a motorized wheelchair.
U. S. Customs and Border Protection officers encountered the traveler as he was arriving at Charlotte Douglas International Airport from the Dominican Republic this week, according to a Friday news release.
“His answers didn’t match up. His physical purported handicap did not match up. That was a tell-tale sign that there was something suspicious,” Mike Prado, a Homeland Security Investigations deputy special agent, told WSOC-TV.
The four packages containing cocaine were discovered within the seat cushions and had an estimated street value of $378,000, according to the news release.
The 22-year-old man was charged with trafficking in cocaine. Officials say he was a lawful, permanent U.S. resident.
