JFK Cocaine Smuggler Allegedly Fills Sock With Drugs, Stuffs It in His Crotch

Photo courtesy of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection

QUEENS, NY — If, like suspected cocaine smuggler Angelo Fernandez, you (allegedly) thought the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers at JFK Airport would be too bashful or decent or disgusted to give a large "rigid object" in your groin area an extra squeeze and a followup exam, you — and Fernandez — would be (allegedly) mistaken.

In a "private search room" at New York City's largest airport on April 29, "CBP officers conducted a personal search and a rigid object was felt in the subject’s groin area producing a sock containing 100 pellets," the federal agency announced Tuesday.

"CBP officers probed the pellets producing a white powder that tested positive for cocaine," the agency said.

Then, upon inspecting his luggage, CBP officers found that Fernandez, a U.S. citizen flying in from the Dominican Republic, had allegedly stuffed even more cocaine into the panels of his computer bag.

Between the groin sock and the laptop carrier, Fernandez attempted to smuggle nine pounds of cocaine worth $160,000 into the U.S., according to the CBP.

He has since been arrested on suspicion of importing a controlled substance into the country.

“This seizure demonstrates the vigilance and dedication demonstrated daily by CBP officers at JFK, in keeping these prohibited and dangerous narcotics off the streets of our communities,” Robert E. Perez, director of New York field operations for the CBP, said in a statement issued Tuesday — an admirable show of restraint, considering the circumstances.