Cocaine worth US$450,000 seized from wheelchair wheels

This photo provided by US Customs and Border Protection shows cocaine smuggled in the wheels of a wheelchair. Photo / AP

Customs officers at New York’s Kennedy International Airport seized US$450,000 ($729,400) of cocaine from a traveller who was smuggling the drugs in the wheels of her wheelchair, federal authorities announced.

The bust happened last week when Customs and Border Patrol officers stopped a woman travelling from Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic with a wheelchair whose wheels weren’t turning, agency officials said.

The officers X-rayed the wheelchair and noticed an “anomaly” in all four wheels, CPB officials said in a news release. Officers checked the tyres and found a white powder that tested positive for cocaine, they said.

A total of 12.7kg of cocaine with a street value of US$450,000 was removed from the wheels, officials said.

The woman, a Dominican citizen named Emelinda Paulino De Rivas, was arrested on smuggling charges and turned over to Homeland Security Investigations. It wasn’t clear if she had an attorney who could comment.