Feds: Flier From DR Tries Smuggling 4½ Pounds Of Coke Into Newark

A traveler flew to Newark Airport from the Dominican Republic with 4½ pounds of cocaine hidden in his clothes, authorities said.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HIS)
Photo Credit: *COURTESY: ice.gov*

Jerry DeMarco

10/26/2020 5:13 p.m.

Screeners nabbed Leandre Kemont Jefferson, 23, of Denver, after he arrived in Newark from Puerta Playa on Friday, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said.

Jefferson had two kilos of cocaine “concealed inside of 12 vacuum packed bags, which were themselves wrapped in foil, and which was further concealed inside of clothing,” Carpenito said.

Jefferson was scheduled for a video-conferenced first appearance Monday afternoon before a U.S. magistrate judge in Newark.

Carpenito credited special agents of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Homeland Security Investigations and officers of U.S. Customs and Border Protection with the investigation leading to the charges, handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean M. Sherman of his Criminal Division in Newark.

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