Partly cloudy early with increasing clouds overnight. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low around 65F. Winds NE at 10 to 15 mph..
Partly cloudy early with increasing clouds overnight. Slight chance of a rain shower. Low around 65F. Winds NE at 10 to 15 mph.
Charleston International Airport. Warren L. Wise/Staff
Ashley Nguyen. Charleston County Sheriff's Office/provided.
Charleston International Airport. Warren L. Wise/Staff
Ashley Nguyen. Charleston County Sheriff's Office/provided.
A woman traveling from California was arrested at the Charleston International Airport after police allegedly found more than 40 pounds of marijuana in her suitcases.
Ashley Thao Nguyen was booked Oct. 6 into Charleston County jail on the offense of trafficking marijuana.
Charleston County Aviation Authority police said they had received a tip that someone would be flying in "trafficking a large quantity of narcotics," according to an incident report. While investigating, an officer was told by an American Airlines employee that a bag, indicating a large red suitcase, "smelled like weed."
A drug-sniffing dog also found the bag's odor suspect, the report said. The suitcase had Nguyen's name on the tag.
Officers returned the bag to the carousel at baggage claim and watched as a woman, later identified as the 27-year-old Californian, picked up two suitcases, including the pungent red one.
Airport police approached Nguyen and asked to speak with her and then to search her bags.
Nguyen told the officers that she was meeting someone to give the suitcases to, but could not provide the name of the person or the location she was meeting them, accord the report. The suitcases were secured with combination locks, which Nguyen said she could not open though she said the bags were hers.
Inside the suitcases, authorities found 31 vacuum-sealed bags surrounded by hard black plastic. They weighed a total of 40.2 pounds, the report said.
Reach Ali Rockett at 843-901-1708. Follow her on Twitter @AliRockettPC.
Ali Rockett covers crime and public safety in the Charleston area. She previously worked at papers in Virginia and her home state of North Carolina.
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