LATINO BLOTTER: Guatemalan Tries to Smuggle Heroin Lollipops Through Orlando Airport

Friday, a Guatemalan man was arrested at Florida’s Orlando airport after inspectors checked the clearly anxious man’s luggage and found a number of heroin lollipops.

After arriving in the U.S on a flight from Central America, Rafael Quinonez Jimenez was spotting by in U.S. customs agents, as he was “very nervous and was sweating profusely” as he approached them, the arrest affidavit read.

When agents searched his belongings they found more than 3 kilograms of heroin disguised as 172 lollipops, weighing approximately 7 pounds. Inside the thin candy shell of the lollipops were balls of condensed heroin powder.

Quinonez Jimenez told police that he had flown in from Guatemala City where he met a man at a gas station near his home. The man gave him $500, a hotel reservation, and an airline ticket to carry a bag of candy into Florida. He was told he’d be given further instructions once he landed in Orlando.

Many are doubting his story however, as he was found to have $1,500 in cash and was acting as though he was very much aware that he was carrying drugs and not just a bag of lollipops.

The 45-year-old was arrested on the charge of possessing heroin with intent to distribute. If convicted, Quinonez Jimenez faces a minimum penalty of 10 years and up to life in federal prison.

Published in Notitas de Noticias

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