A man caught at Washington Dulles International Airport with hundreds of thousands of dollars of heroin hidden in soccer gear has pleaded guilty to drug-smuggling charges.
Elias Casiano pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court in Alexandria to importing heroin.
He was arrested in December after arriving at Dulles on a flight from Bolivia.
A Customs and Border Protection officer found something concealed in a soccer team banner in the Hazleton, Pa., man’s suitcase and determined that the package contained heroin, according to court documents.
Authorities then found packs of heroin hidden inside four pairs of soccer pants and two pairs of soccer shorts, court documents say. In total, Casiano was carrying 3.8 kilograms — about 8.5 pounds — of heroin concealed in 27 packages, according to the documents.
CBP has estimated that the drugs were worth about $315,000.
Casiano faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years behind bars, according to his plea agreement. But drug mules who aren’t leaders in a drug-trafficking organization are usually eligible for penalties below the mandatory minimum, resulting in sentences of three to four years.
Casiano is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema on June 8.
