A student from the United Kingdom was caught trying to sneak more than a dozen methamphetamine-laced T-shirts through Los Angeles International Airport in her luggage earlier this month.
Mia Sakwa Mantey, 20, was on her way to meet her boyfriend for the first time in Australia when she decided to stop in Los Angeles for a few days, according to CBS News.
But airport officers noticed an X-ray machine had flagged her luggage for anomalies on Nov. 2, and when they searched it, they allegedly found T-shirts “laced with methamphetamine” inside, the station reported.
The white T-shirts — which according to court documents were “hidden under the inner lining of the bag” — likely contained several kilograms of illicit drugs that had become entangled in the fabric.
“Due to moisture, the suspected methamphetamine was caked in the shirts and therefore could not be separated,” the documents said.
The meth-soaked shirts weighed about 30 pounds alone, according to Fox News.
Customs officials stopped her at the gate and questioned her about the bag, but Sakwa Mantey allegedly denied any knowledge of the drugged shirts.
CBS said Sakwa Mantey admitted to buying the shirts and even obtained receipts.
Fox added that the authorities brought her to the baggage screening area, confiscated her two cell phones, and arrested her.
In the affidavit, Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent Omar Yassin wrote that the methamphetamine was “originally in powder form and the powder was then ‘washed out’ with a solvent and then blended or blended into shirts.”
Sakwa Mantey has been charged with possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine and is currently being held in federal custody.
