More than 200 pounds of marijuana moved through commercial flights from Los Angeles to Orlando International Airport this summer before police caught it in two separate busts, according to police records obtained by FOX 35 Orlando.
Suspects allegedly tried to move the bulk marijuana from Los Angeles International Airport to Central Florida using superglue, torn-off luggage tags and dryer sheets to mask the smell. Undercover Orlando Police Department officers and drug-sniffing K-9s caught it anyway.
On May 7, officers found 57.6 pounds of marijuana packed into 50 vacuum-sealed bags, wrapped in blankets and stuffed with dryer sheets.
On July 1, officers found 144.4 pounds of marijuana in suitcases whose locks had been glued completely shut.
FOX 35 identified the suspects as individuals in their 20s, now facing felony drug trafficking charges.
How Drugs Get Past Security
Keith Jeffries, vice president of K2 Security Screening Group and a former TSA federal security director at LAX and deputy federal security director at MCO, told Fox News Digital that drug smuggling on commercial flights “can happen in multiple ways.”
He pointed to possible scenarios including airport or airline employees assisting smugglers, or traffickers using drug mules — though he cautioned it’s unclear exactly how the drugs got onto these particular flights.
“It’s unknown at this time without talking to law enforcement and getting the specifics,” Jeffries said.
He also raised the possibility that a confidential informant tipped off law enforcement about specific individuals or bags.
Jeffries said drug trafficking “can happen on any domestic route — and it does,” and noted Orlando’s status as a major tourist hub may make it a target.
“The illegal perpetrators in this [situation] may think and believe that, well, the security must be lax there, which is not the case,” Jeffries said.
Jeffries also clarified that TSA officers aren’t tasked with hunting for drugs. Any suspicious substance found during screening gets handed off to police.
“TSA does not look for illegal narcotics,” Jeffries said. “They simply say, ‘We’ve got an unknown substance, and we need law enforcement’s attention so that law enforcement can validate what it is or is not.'”
He described the TSA’s administrative search authority as “very, very narrow and very specific.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the Orlando Police Department for additional information.
Other Recent Airport Finds
TSA officers elsewhere have reported their own strange discoveries in recent weeks. In September, officers at Dallas Love Field Airport in Texas found a pocketknife hidden inside a tube of toothpaste during routine carry-on screening. In Tampa, officers found a 4-inch, double-edged knife concealed inside a baseball bat-shaped flashlight in a passenger’s carry-on bag.
