Woman arriving at St. Louis Lambert Airport caught with pounds of Marijuana
“The sharing of information between our officers was instrumental in stopping this traveler from transporting 43 pounds of marijuana internationally,” said LaFonda D. Sutton-Burke, Director of Field Operations, Chicago Field Office. “I commend the CBP officers in Newark and at Lambert for enforcing U.S. federal law, which prohibits the illegal distribution of marijuana.” – official statement from CBP website
Press release from the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol – May 15th 2025
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers at St. Louis’ Lambert International Airport arrested a 31-year-old woman on May 14 for trying to travel to Germany with over 40 pounds of marijuana. (photos below from CBP)
One of the packages contents
Contents from two suitcases
One of the suitcases
Other suitcase just a different color
CBP officers in Newark notified St. Louis CBP a passenger scheduled to leave the U.S. was a subject of interest. The U.S. citizen was departing St. Louis to head to Frankfurt, Germany. Before her luggage was loaded on the aircraft, CBP officers inspected her two suitcases and found 38 bundles of marijuana with a total weight of 43-and-a-half pounds.
The individual and marijuana was turned over to the St. Louis Airport Police for further processing.
“The sharing of information between our officers was instrumental in stopping this traveler from transporting 43 pounds of marijuana internationally,” said LaFonda D. Sutton-Burke, Director of Field Operations, Chicago Field Office. “I commend the CBP officers in Newark and at Lambert for enforcing U.S. federal law, which prohibits the illegal distribution of marijuana.” – official statement from CBP website
With legalization of cannabis across most of the United States we think we will see more and more of these types of stops happening. The woman was first noticed at the airport in Newark, NJ and captured at Lambert Airport in St. Louis. Looking at the pictures from the US Customs website it did not look like they tried very hard to disguise what was in the packages, well it’s kind of difficult to defeat x-rays and a secondary inspection. Once it passes through the machine either it is fine and you go on about your day or you have to speak to a TSA agent. TSA states it is not their policy to stop the transit of illegal goods but they will notify the proper authorities about what passed through the check point. Speaking with Vanna about the subject we think it was a very dumb move on the person’s part by trying to transport that amount in that fashion. It also could be that she was the one went through as the diversion and other transporters could have made it to their destinations. Quite possible someone sold her “THCA flower” and told her it was legal to transport through the airport and other countries. CBP confirmed though their press release that it is still illegal to travel across state lines and internationally with cannabis and cannabis derived products. We do not suggest you try traveling with pounds of marijuana via air or sea.
