Officials said this week that a California woman is suspected of attempting to smuggle 151 pounds of cannabis onto an international flight.
Diane Bahlawan, 34, was initially taken into custody on May 6 at San Francisco International Airport while trying to board a United Airlines flight to Frankfurt, Germany.
Bahlawan’s four roller bags were spotted by airport security because they seemed abnormally heavy. They allegedly found 131 vacuum-sealed bags of cannabis inside.
Authorities said they confiscated Bahlawan’s boarding pass, cellphone, and $960 in cash in addition to the cannabis.
Bahlawan was accused of burglary and illegal marijuana transportation, but he was freed from custody after he posted bail.
On June 2, she will appear in court for her initial arraignment.
According to San Mateo County District Attorney Stephen Wagstaffe, “it is unusual for my office to get a marijuana transportation case through the airport that involves [this] much marijuana,” adding that the U.S. Attorney’s Office has equal jurisdiction over such cases.
“They tend to take the big ones and we get the smaller ones,” Wagstaffe added. “So this is a large amount for us to handle. But we are glad to prosecute whatever the Federal authorities leave for us.”
After the suspect’s court appearance, the district attorney’s office said more information about the case would be released to the public.
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The case of Bahlawan is not the only one of its kind to emerge from San Francisco International Airport in California in recent months.
When a 25-year-old Australian woman was allegedly found in possession of 44 pounds of methamphetamine in February, she was arrested at the travel hub on several felony charges.
Then, in April, a couple exiting the Long Beach Cruise Ship Terminal after returning from Ensenada, Mexico, had about 150,000 cigarettes confiscated by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers.
