U.S. Attorney Zachary Cunha said that a guy from New York was arrested last week after Customs and Border Protection agents at T.F. Green International Airport found more than 13 kilograms of cocaine in his carry-on bag.
Richard Pineda Novas, 46, was in a wheelchair and had just gotten off a direct flight from the Dominican Republic on Thursday when he was sent to a second check.
Cunha said that the second screening was done because agents found out that Pineda Novas may be linked to someone who was caught trying to bring cocaine into the country at John F. Kennedy International Airport two years ago. Cunha says that the suspect hid almost 15 kilograms of cocaine in his wheelchair.
When Pineda Novas arrived at T.F. Green, his carry-on bag was found near him. When the agents checked it, they found 12 brick-shaped packages wrapped in plastic and tape. During the second screening, officers looked closely at the packages and found that they contained cocaine.
At first, Pineda Novas said that the carry-on bag wasn’t his and that the agents gave him someone else’s things. Cunha said that agents finally found Pineda Novas because they found a paycheck in the bag. The check was made out to Pineda Nova, and it was found between the pages of a bible.
He is being charged with several things, including having a controlled substance with the purpose of selling it.
