An employee of a service provider at Los Angeles International Airport and a passenger on his way to Minnesota were apprehended and charged in a federal criminal complaint with possessing a bag containing approximately 11 kilograms of fentanyl in an airport bathroom, federal prosecutors announced Monday.
Miguel Angel Tuz-Noh, 24, of Lennox, who works at LAX, and his neighbour Anthony Olvera, 23, also of Lennox, have been charged with possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance.
Both defendants were detained on August 19 and appeared for the first time on August 21 in United States District Court in downtown Los Angeles. A federal magistrate judge ordered each of them released on a $10,000 bond. Their arraignments are slated for September 17.
According to an affidavit filed with the complaint, Tuz-Noh is an LAX employee who “law enforcement believes has ties to a drug trafficking organisation”. ” On August 19, law enforcement officers witnessed Tuz-Noh and Olvera attempting to exchange narcotics in a men’s restroom at one of the airport terminals.
Soon after, law officers seized both suspects and opened the duffel bag Olvera was carrying. Inside the duffle bag were 10 brick-type bundles holding a total of approximately 11 kilograms of fentanyl, and “law enforcement believes Olvera had agreed to fly with the fentanyl to Minneapolis-St Paul International Airport.”
If convicted, each defendant faces a mandatory minimum term of ten years in federal prison and a statutory maximum punishment of life imprisonment.
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