FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA – A Bahamian drug dealer who collected a duffel bag with cocaine worth US$200,000 from an airport has been sentenced to 46 months in prison.
Darron William Smith, 28, faces deportation after completing his sentence.
Smith picked up the bag after it arrived on a Jet Blue flight from Nassau, Bahamas on February 15.
He had been living in Florida with relatives since October 2020. Smith’s aunt drove him to the airport after he received a call from The Bahamas from a person who knew a mutual friend.
Smith said the stranger asked him to collect the bag from the airport. According to Smith, he expected to receive another phone call with additional instructions once he had picked up the duffel bag. Smith said that the caller promised him $1,000 in payment.
But Smith never received the money because law enforcement officers intercepted the cocaine before he arrived.
After drug sniffing dogs at the airport detected the 3.94 kilos in the duffel bag, U.S. Customs and Border protection officers stationed at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport waited to see who would collect the bag.
The officers pounced after Smith collected the bag from the carousel.
Smith tried to run but was taken into custody.
