Philly CBP Intercepts 2 Europe-Bound Marijuana Loads

PHILADELPHIA – Two women are facing felony drug possession charges after U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers intercepted 97 pounds of marijuana in smuggling attempts on consecutive days this week at Philadelphia International Airport.

CBP officers seized 41 pounds of marijuana on March 16 and another 56 pounds on March 17 that were discovered in baggage being loaded onto flights bound for Europe. CBP narcotics detector dog Fredo, a 3-year-old male German shepherd, alerted officers to the marijuana.

Pennsylvania State Police troopers arrested Olgalisa Taveras, 40, of Yonkers, N.Y., on March 16 and Chelsea Anita Cromwell, 54, of Forestville, Calif., on March 17 and charged them both with felony possession with intent to distribute.

Officers stopped Taveras at the departure gate to a London-bound flight and stopped Cromwell as she attempted to board a flight to Frankfurt, Germany. Officers identified both women based on the baggage tags on their checked baggage.

In addition to the marijuana, Cromwell’s bags also included about 500 grams of hashish products.

The weed had a street value of about $375,000.

CBP officers across the country continue to observe a trend of transnational criminal organizations attempting to transport marijuana through passenger baggage and express air delivery to Europe where high-quality weed can generate huge profits, sometimes two to three times higher than in the United States.

“These arrests should be a wake-up call to would be smugglers that Customs and Border Protection officers will find you and we will work with our law enforcement partners to hold you accountable. Don’t be a fool and rot in jail for uncaring transnational criminal organizations who treat mules as disposable labor,” said Elliott N. Ortiz, CBP’s Acting Area Port Director in Philadelphia.
Criminal charges are merely allegations. Defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.

Despite some states decriminalizing marijuana for medicinal or recreational use, marijuana possession and use remains illegal under federal law. Federal law also prohibits transporting marijuana across state lines or exporting it from the United States.

Every day, CBP officers and agents seized an average of about 1,600 pounds of dangerous drugs last year at and between our nation’s air, sea, and land ports of entry. See CBP’s enforcement stats to see what other dangerous drugs CBP is encountering at our nation’s borders.

CBP’s border security mission is led at our nation’s Ports of Entry by CBP officers and agriculture specialists from the Office of Field Operations. CBP screens international travelers and cargo and searches for illicit narcotics, unreported currency, weapons, counterfeit consumer goods, prohibited agriculture, invasive weeds and pests, and other illicit products that could potentially harm the American public, U.S. businesses, and our nation’s safety and economic vitality.

See what CBP accomplished during “a typical day” last year. Learn more at www.CBP.gov.

Follow the Director of CBP’s Baltimore Field Office on X at @DFOBaltimore for breaking news, current events, human interest stories and photos, and CBP’s Office of Field Operations on Instagram at @cbpfieldops.