"Unusually Heavy" Balls Lead To Coke Bust At Newark Airport

You can put your coke in there (CBP).

Last week was a good one for our local Customs agents. Not only did they find $300,000 in fake bills at JFK, agents at Newark confiscated about 6.1 pounds of cocaine in two separate incidents. The Italian woman who hid her coke in a false bottomed bag is pretty run of the mill, but give credit to the Peruvian guy who tried to smuggle his drugs in deflated soccer balls and inside four pairs of sandals. No hiding coke in coloring book pages, but not bad.

On Wednesday, Customs and Border Patrol officers busted 29-year-old Daniela Mastromarino as she came into the country from Costa Rica with 1.2 pounds of cocaine hidden in "an anomaly" in the bottom of her bag. Then, on Thursday, they arrested Heber Razuri Leon, a 46-year-old man coming from Peru.

Leon was busted when Customs noticed that his deflated soccer balls "were unusually heavy." So they opened them up and whatdayaknow, inside were bags of "a powdery substance that tested positive for cocaine." All in all he appeared to be carrying 4.9 pounds of booger sugar in the balls and in his special sandals (shoes are apparently a popular smuggling site).

Both Mastromarino and Leon have been turned over to Homeland Security and now face federal narcotics smuggling charges. The CBP estimates the pair's combined stash to be worth at least $310,000 on the street. This year's local coke busts weren't quite as massive as last years, but then again, there is a lot less snow this year in general.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Garth Johnston in News on December 28, 2011 3:52 PM

Comments [rss]

DonKeysHoTea

people always check my unusually heavy balls

BombaySplashVermouth

Newark is known for having heavier balls than DC.

Nos Feratu

These people are such amateurs. Pros hire North Korean subs to bring the stuff in by the ton.

Midnight Fapper

Just keister it Chelsea style next time ;)

cr17

What tipped them off first you think: the weight, or the fact that there were four of them?

Paul

As a frequent traveler to Peru, a lot of times people are asked to buy game balls/jersey's up there - for some reason it's a lot cheaper for official stuff.

So it's not that odd to find a lot of soccer balls coming back - in fact that was probably what tipped them off - they know how much it should weight since they handle so many of them.

virgilstarkwell

greed will get these morons every time. had he made them the weight of, you know, actual soccer balls, he would've probably cleared customs with no problem.

luke_1

I'm pretty sure that drug mules are usually coerced to do this by more noble motives, like keeping their family back home from being snuffed out by drug cartels, etc....

ThreeAndNine

But they were actual soccer balls, so they weighed exactly the weight of soccer balls until the cocaine was placed inside them.

I suppose he could have made some special fake soccer balls that were, you know, lighter than actual soccer balls... then he would've probably cleared customs with no problem. But, how would be make soccer balls, regardless of weight, anyway?