Agents find more than a dozen t-shirts “caked with methamphetamine” in woman’s luggage at LAX
By Dean Fioresi
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LOS ANGELES (KCAL, KCBS) — A woman is facing federal charges after security agents discovered more than a dozen shirts soaked with methamphetamine inside of her luggage at LAX in nearly-November.
According to court documents from the United States District Court, Myah Saakwa-Mante, a student from the United Kingdom, was en route to Australia when she stopped in LA for two days.
Prosecutors say that her luggage was flagged for anomalies that were noted by an x-ray machine. Los Angeles International Airport officers opened the bag and found the shirts that were “caked with methamphetamine,” the documents said.
They say that the shirts were “hidden under the suitcase’s internal lining,” and that a test revealed positive results for meth. In all, they believe that there were several kilograms of the drug were caked into the shirts.
“Due to the moisture, the suspected methamphetamine was caked into the t-shirts and so could not be separated,” according to the documents.
On top of this, officers also said that they noticed a white powder residue that was both inside of the suitcase and visible on their black gloves they were wearing while sifting through the luggage’s contents.
Officers say that the shirts were purchased at a Target store using Apple Pay, which Saakwa-Mante confirmed and even had receipts for.
“When asked about the white powder on the tshirts, she claimed to have no knowledge of it,” the documents further noted.
United States Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent Omar Yasin, who filed the affidavit, believes that “the methamphetamine was originally in a powder form and then the powder was “washed” using a solvent and then blended /melded into the t-shirts.”
Saakwa-Mante said that the reason for her trip was to meet her boyfriend for the first time.
She remains in federal custody and is facing one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine.
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