Miami CBP officer arrested on drug conspiracy charge
A U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer that worked at Miami International Airport has been charged with conspiracy to distribute illegal drugs, in an alleged scheme of offering to help distribute heroin and cocaine from Puerto Rico to Miami and New York.
Edwin Disla, 33, of Miami, had been indicted on drug conspiracy charges along with Josue Cruz, 24, of New York, and Ricardo Mejia-Martinez, 51, of the Dominican Republic, said R. Alexander Acosta, U.S. Attorney for the South District of Florida, on Wednesday.
The indictment said Disla worked at MIA from January to March 28. The U.S. attorney's office said that during February, Disla and Cruz transported 10 kilograms of a substance that they believed to be cocaine to individuals in Miami. While transporting what was actually sham cocaine, Disla used his law enforcement authority to bypass security both at the Luis Munoz Marin Airport in Puerto Rico and Miami International Airport.
On March 28, Disla and Mejia-Martinez were arrested in Puerto Rico, after having received duffel bags containing 25 kilograms of sham cocaine and 20 kilograms of sham heroin from undercover agents with the Puerto Rico Police Department assigned to the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Task Force.
Officials said Cruz is still at large.