Sky Harbor Airport Passenger Found With 92 Pounds of Weed in Checked Luggage | Valley Fever | Phoenix | Phoenix New Times | The Leading Independent News Source in Phoenix, Arizona
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Sky Harbor Airport Passenger Found With 92 Pounds of Weed in Checked Luggage

A passenger on a flight out of Phoenix's Sky Harbor airport tried to check luggage containing 92 pounds of marijuana, according to the TSA. A TSA spokesman says the Phoenix Police Department was contacted once agents made the discovery. According to court documents obtained by New Times, 39-year-old Lauretta Blanton...
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A passenger on a flight out of Phoenix's Sky Harbor airport tried to check luggage containing 92 pounds of marijuana, according to the TSA.

A TSA spokesman says the Phoenix Police Department was contacted once agents made the discovery.

According to court documents obtained by New Times, 39-year-old Lauretta Blanton had actually spread the load among three checked bags, and two of the bags actually made it onto the plane.

See also: -Airport Body Scanners Catch Drugs, Not Explosives

The pot was heat-sealed in bags and coated with moth-balls, according to court documents.

The bust took place on Sunday inside Sky Harbor's Terminal 4, the airport's busiest terminal, which handles flights for Southwest Airlines, American Airlines, U.S. Airways, and a few others.

According to court documents, Blanton told police she was transporting the load to Pittsburgh for a man she knew only as "Q."

"Lauretta said that she knew there was marijuana in the suitcases, but she took a chance anyway because she needed the money," says an officer's probable-cause statement.

Blanton, a Phoenix resident, told police she didn't know exactly how much money she was going to get once she made the delivery in Pittsburgh. Blanton was booked into jail on a felony charge of marijuana transportation.

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Follow Valley Fever on Twitter at @ValleyFeverPHX. Follow Matthew Hendley at @MatthewHendley.

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