The TSA is usaully busy trying to find explosives and weapons, but when someone brings more than 80 pounds of weed in their suitcase, it's going to catch some attention. The Transportation Security Administration at Oakland International Airport recently arrested a woman who was trying to transport the huge stash of marijuana in her luggage.
Photos provided by the TSA show three suitcases with plastic baggies full of marijuana neatly packed away.
According to TSA spokesperson Nico Melendez who spoke to the Bay Area News Group, a 26-year-old woman named Anastasia Murdock was trying to fly to Jackson, Mississippi on a US Airways flight at about 6 a.m. on Friday when the TSA came across her luggage with the illegal substance, CBS reports.
TSA agents were shocked when they found 81 pounds of weed in her luggage. The marijuana was taken away and Murdock was arrested in the terminal by Alameda County sheriff's deputies.
"TSA screens every bag placed on an airplane, whether taken as carry-on or checked with an airline," TSA spokesman Ross Feinstein told CNN.
According to Melendez the TSA is not responsible for looking for drugs in luggage or other illegal items but when it comes in contact with it, they are required to notify the authorities. It is up to local authorities to decide if the person with the drugs should be arrested or prosecuted.
"When something like that happens, such as marijuana, cocaine or child pornography, our job is to notify law enforcement," Melendez told CBS.
"As is common practice, TSA notified the Alameda County Sheriff's Office of the discovery, who responded and took possession of the marijuana," Feinstein told CNN. "The passenger was subsequently arrested on criminal charges."
The woman is being held at the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin. She is supposed to be arraigned on Tuesday, authorities said.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
