JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – When the Drug Enforcement Administration suspected there was some marijuana in luggage on a flight arriving at Jacksonville International Airport, they called on Nassau County Sheriff’s Office K-9 Xena to help.
After the dog alerted on luggage that held 40 pounds of pot, Roderick Washington, 37, was arrested.
According to investigators, Washington had flown into Jacksonville from an undisclosed airport in the United States.
“Forty pounds of marijuana is a significant drug bust,” said News4Jax crime and safety expert Ken Jefferson. “I can’t answer as to how it got past all that security and all the scanning they do.”
Travelers and people who work at JAX were shocked when they saw the photos of the marijuana.
“I can’t believe anyone can get that much drugs in. That’s crazy,” said one woman.
Traveler Jessica Kerwin said: “How did that get through the airport? How did that happen?”
How it happened remains a mystery that is currently under investigation by the DEA, Jacksonville airport police and law enforcement officers outside the state of Florida.
News4Jax learned Transportation Security Administration does not scan for narcotics. A TSA spokesperson released a statement that says:
“All checked baggage goes through TSA’s explosive detection machines which use sophisticated algorithms to detect explosives and other threats to the aviation system. Our K9s similarly are trained for TSA’s security mission of keeping explosives and the chemicals used in bombs or improvised explosive devices off of your plane.”