Sheriff’s deputies confiscated about 30 pounds of cocaine after a plane came from Colombia and was later flown to Tulsa for maintenance, authorities said.
An American Airlines employee at Tulsa International Airport was conducting maintenance Sunday afternoon on a Boeing 757 and found one of seven bricks of the drug, Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Casey Roebuck said.
The flight came from Bogota, Colombia, and landed in Miami, Florida, authorities said. The plane was initially scheduled for maintenance in Miami but was deferred to Tulsa due to a scheduling issue.
“That’s a lot of cocaine, so we suspect cartel involvement,” Roebuck said.
“That’s why we’re turning it over to the DEA” — the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration office in Miami.
Authorities do not suspect involvement on Tulsa’s end because the plane had been scheduled for maintenance in Miami.
The Sheriff’s Office estimated the cocaine had a minimum value of $200,000. Some estimates ranged up to $434,000.
Investigators initially discovered five bricks, Roebuck said, and found two more a short time later.
The maintenance crew found the bricks in the nose of the plane in what appeared to be new insulation, Roebuck said. The bricks were covered with wheel grease, she said, probably in an effort to mask the scent from drug-sniffing dogs.
A similar incident occurred in December 2015, when Tulsa County authorities confiscated about 26 pounds of cocaine after it was discovered by an American Airlines maintenance employee.
American Airlines in Miami made headlines in 2013 when federal agents arrested dozens of the carrier’s employees, The Associated Press reports. Two sting operations resulted in at least 50 indictments.
Cocaine costs in 2009 in the U.S. ranged from $45 to $174 per gram, according to the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime. A kilogram of the drug can reportedly be obtained for between $10,000 and $12,000 in South America and Central America.
