At the airport, a drug-detecting dog discovers cocaine stashed in a wheelchair

Friday at an airport in Milan, a drug-sniffing dog led police to roughly 30 pounds of cocaine concealed in the leather upholstery of a motorized wheelchair. The user of the wheelchair instantly got up and was detained, according to officials.

The Financial Guard police stated in a statement that the specialist canine squad will be deployed at Malpensa airport to inspect people and their baggage coming from the Dominican Republic, since drug couriers have previously utilized the route.

When a dog alerted investigators to the passenger, they conducted a search of his bags, which turned up nothing, and then sliced the wheelchair’s upholstery, where they discovered the cocaine.

Police said that when the cocaine was discovered, the wheelchair user, a Spaniard who had sought assistance from airport workers, stood up, walked without assistance, and was arrested.

Un’unità cinofila della #GDF di #Varese individua un passeggero, che fingendosi disabile sulla sedia a rotelle, trasportava 13 Kg di cocaina.

According to the statement, the passenger was sent to a local prison, where judicial authorities maintained his arrest awaiting investigation of the situation.

Police estimated that the 11 packages of cocaine, weighing a total of 13.35 kilograms (almost 30 pounds), could have provided over 27,000 doses and had a street value of approximately 1.4 million euros, or nearly $1.6 million.