{"id":1503522,"date":"2022-06-04T18:34:04","date_gmt":"2022-06-04T22:34:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1503522"},"modified":"2022-06-04T18:34:09","modified_gmt":"2022-06-04T22:34:09","slug":"man-arrested-at-airport-after-faking-disability-to-hide-23-pounds-of-cocaine-in-motorized-wheelchair-officials-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/man-arrested-at-airport-after-faking-disability-to-hide-23-pounds-of-cocaine-in-motorized-wheelchair-officials-say\/","title":{"rendered":"Man Arrested At Airport After Faking Disability To Hide 23 Pounds Of Cocaine In Motorized Wheelchair, Officials Say"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">36<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fman-arrested-at-airport-after-faking-disability-to-hide-23-pounds-of-cocaine-in-motorized-wheelchair-officials-say%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1503522&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>A man who had arrived for a layover at the Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina was arrested Tuesday after officials say he faked a disability to hide more than 23 pounds of cocaine under the seat cushion of his motorized wheelchair.<\/p>\n<p>Alexander Antonio Lopez-Morel, 22, was on his way to Newark, New Jersey, from the Dominican Republic when he was met by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents who found four packages of the hard drug concealed under his wheelchair seat cushion, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsoctv.com\/news\/local\/authorities-find-cocaine-motorized-wheelchairs-seat-charlotte-douglas-man-arrested\/4W677KWL7RC7ZND2I6XUOB4WUA\/\">according<\/a> to WSOC-TV 9.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHis answers didn\u2019t match up. His physical purported handicap did not match up. That was a tell-tale sign that there was something suspicious,\u201d Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Special Agent Mike Prado said.<\/p>\n<p>The 23 pounds of cocaine was estimated to be worth $378,000 at street value, according to a Friday CBP press release.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s unbelievable. That\u2019s crazy,\u201d said Richard Killian, another passenger at the airport. \u201cWhat I am really upset and concerned about are our young people being bombarded with drugs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The CBP said Lopez-Morel is a lawful permanent resident of the U.S. Investigators believe the suspected drug trafficker, along with many other drug dealers, use the Charlotte Airport because of its \u201csize and location on the East Coast.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to WSOC-TV 9, \u201cDrug trafficking through Charlotte Douglas is such a concern that Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection and local police launched a new border enforcement security task force in March.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Since 2021, investigators have seized more than $5 million from drug dealers using the airport to traffic fentanyl, cocaine, meth, and marijuana.<\/p>\n<p>Lopez-Morel was charged with a felony for trafficking cocaine, and his wheelchair and drug packages were sent to the HSI to be investigated.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis seizure demonstrates the dynamic border environment in which CBP officers operate at CLT,\u201d CBP Charlotte Area Port Director Barry Chastain said. \u201cOur officers are determined to adapt and respond to these threats in an effort to stop narcotics reaching our communities.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A man who had arrived for a layover at the Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina was arrested Tuesday after officials say he faked a disability to hide more than 23 pounds of cocaine under the seat cushion of his motorized wheelchair. Alexander Antonio Lopez-Morel, 22, was on his way to Newark, New Jersey, &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":324,"featured_media":1503528,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1503522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1503522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/324"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1503522"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1503522\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1503528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1503522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1503522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1503522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}