A 31-year-old man was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport after trying to check two suitcases filled with clothing caked in methamphetamine — including a cow pajama onesie, federal prosecutors announced Tuesday.
Authorities say Raj Matharu of Northridge checked two bags before his Nov. 6 flight to Sydney. But screening officers who X-rayed the pink and gray suitcases noticed an anomaly and flagged them for a second inspection.
Inside the suitcases, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers found “white or light-colored clothing items dried stiff and covered in a white residue,” according to a criminal complaint filed in the Central District of California.
The residue — which was found on items including socks, boxers, tank tops, sweatpants, jeans, hoodies, underwear and a pair of cow onesie pajamas — tested positive for methamphetamine, federal prosecutors say.
Articles of clothing that authorities say were soaked with methamphetamine. (US. attorney’s office)
All the light-colored clothing in the suitcases was caked in the residue, while other clothing items were not, authorities said. The clothing caked in residue weighed roughly 71 pounds, federal prosecutors said, and investigators estimate more than 30 pounds of methamphetamine solution had been soaked into the items.
The clothing was likely “washed” in white methamphetamine and left to dry, according to a federal affidavit.
Authorities stopped Matharu at his United Airlines boarding gate, where he admitted to owning the suitcases and followed officers to an inspection area, officials say. He had used his personal credit card to pay $100 to check a second suitcase, according to prosecutors.
Matharu was taken into custody Nov. 7 and charged with one count of possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute, according to the U.S. attorney’s office for the Central District of California.
According to court records, he was released on a $10,000 bond secured by a relative.
“Drug dealers are continually inventing creative ways of smuggling dangerous narcotics in pursuit of illicit profit — as alleged in the facts of this case,” U.S. Atty. Martin Estrada said in a statement.
The U.S. attorney’s office declined to comment on this particular tactic, but Matharu is not the first person arrested on suspicion of trying to fly with methamphetamine-soaked items.
On Nov. 2, customs officers at LAX found 13 white T-shirts caked in a powdery white substance in a suitcase. The substance tested positive for methamphetamine.
The owner of the suitcase, whom authorities identified as a British student named Myah Saakwa-Mante, said she purchased the items from Target and provided receipts to prove it, but “claimed to have no knowledge” of the powder, according to an affidavit filed in that case. Saakwa-Mante’s ultimate destination was Brisbane, Australia.
