Colombian Airline Fined in Drug Sweep
The U.S. Customs Service on Friday fined Avianca, the Colombian national airline, $4.7 million after 293 pounds of cocaine were discovered in a shipment of flowers, a Drug Enforcement Administration agent said.
The drug was found Thursday in four of 2,500 cartons of roses and carnations, special agent Jack Hook said.
Customs agents at Miami International Airport check flower shipments by pushing probing rods through the boxes. The cocaine in the shipment aboard Avianca Flight 786 from Bogota, Colombia, was found when the first rod pushed into a box came out with the white powder on it, Hook said.
“The first one they hit had cocaine in it. That’s pretty good odds,” Hook said.
Customs levied the fine against Avianca under a 1986 law allowing fines of $1,000 per ounce of any illegal drug cargo.
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