Drugs and rock ?n? roll have always gone together ? but not quite like this.
Federal authorities seized two rock guitars filled with almost $300,000 worth of cocaine from Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, according to a new Drug Enforcement Administration intelligence alert.
“We?ve been seeing drugs smuggled in baseball hats, sneakers, gas tanks and many other ways,” said Special Agent Edward Marcinko, spokesman for the DEA?s Baltimore office. “This is one of the unique ways smugglers are smuggling drugs throughout the country.”
This seizure is the first of its kind in the mid-Atlantic, federal authorities said.
The DEA Mid Atlantic Laboratory in Largo tested the two electric guitars and found compressed white powders concealed in hollowed-out sections in the bases, officials said.
A test of the 2,878 grams of powder confirmed 83 percent cocaine hydrochloride adulterated with diltiazem. The amount equals about 101.5 ounces, or 6.35 pounds.
Neither guitar had any outward indications of tampering, since the paint and hard plastic layers were added to the guitars after the drugs were concealed, the DEA said.
The seizure of the guitars occurred about 11:30 p.m. on Sept. 30, according to court documents.
Isidro Antonino-Thomas pleaded guilty and was sentenced Jan. 30 to a charge of possessing with the intent to distribute more than 500 grams of cocaine after he was caught with the guitars. He was sentenced to 60 months in prison.
Antonino-Thomas arrived at BWI in Anne Arundel County on Mexicana Airways from Mexico City.
During an inspection conducted by a Customs Border Protection officer, officials said they learned that Antonino-Thomas had no luggage except for a guitar case, which contained two guitars.
Inspectors X-rayed the guitars and found them to be of an unusual density, causing them to drill holes in both instruments, according to federal charging documents.
After inspectors found the cocaine, Antonino-Thomas was charged.
Federal agents said both guitars appear fully operational.
