Fake Delta Pilot, Real Cocaine

A Jamaican man claiming to be a “dead-head crewmember” was stopped by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, who spotted his fake Delta Air Lines tag and fake Delta identification almost immediately upon arrival at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport.

What wasn’t fake, however, was the $85,000 worth of cocaine in his suitcase.

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Mario Hudson was arrested while wearing a pilot’s uniform and charged with smuggling. He initially told authorities he arrived on a flight from Kingston, Jamaica as a ‘dead-head,’ which is an airline term when a carrier gives a ride to a crew member whose work detail actually begins in another city.

When officials went through his carry-on bag, they found five pounds of cocaine with a street value of $85,000.

“This seizure demonstrates the vigilance and dedication demonstrated daily by CBP officers at JFK, in keeping these prohibited and dangerous narcotics off the streets of our communities,” Leon Hayward, acting director of Field Operations in New York for CBP, told CBS News.