Customs officials arrested a smuggler at the Prague airport, he had over four kilograms of cocaine in his suitcase

May 2, 2024 12:12 pm | Updated at 12:15 p.m

Last week, customs officers at the Ruzyne airport detained a foreigner who smuggled 4.6 kilograms of cocaine in a travel bag. He came to Prague from Colombia via Germany. The police are investigating whether the drug was intended for the Czech market. Customs spokeswoman Martina Kaňková and the National Anti-Drug Headquarters Lucie Šmoldasová informed about this today.

On the basis of a risk analysis by the criminologists of the National Anti-Drug Central, customs officials at Václav Havel Airport detained a man who had four packages of cocaine in his luggage with a total weight of over four and a half kilograms.

“At the end of last week, a foreigner arrived from Frankfurt am Main, traveling from Medellin, Colombia via Bogotá and Germany to Prague. At Václav Havel Airport, customs officials checked him on the basis of a tip from the National Anti-Drug Headquarters. In his travel bag, hidden among other things, they found four blocks with an unknown compressed substance,” Šmoldasová described.

Preliminary chemical analysis confirmed that it was cocaine. The total weight was 4,647 grams including packaging. The drugs were handed over to the Criminal Investigation Institute in Prague for further expertise. Whether they were intended for the Czech market is the subject of investigation.

Criminal officers of the National Anti-Drug Central Office initiated a criminal prosecution, the court decided to place the accused in the Prague Pankrác prison. “Given the amount of drugs he had with him and his cooperation with an organized group operating in several states, he faces up to the highest legal qualification for the crime of illegal production and other handling of narcotic and psychotropic substances and poison, i.e. 10 to 18 years in prison.” Kaňková said.