A woman was arrested over the weekend after federal agents found 14 kilos of cocaine hidden in the cushions of a wheelchair at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago.
The suspect, Elaine Perez-Pena, 35, was traveling from Sao Paulo, Brazil, to Newark, but had a layover in Chicago, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
She was previously arrested at JFK airport in New York in 2021 with 3 kgs of cocaine in her suitcase while traveling from the Dominican Republic. She pleaded guilty the following year and was sentenced to time served.
Because of her previous conviction, Department of Homeland Security Investigations agents conducted a “secondary inspection” of Perez-Pena when she got off her plane in a wheelchair on Saturday. She told investigators her legs hurt.
Nothing suspicious was found in her luggage, but an x-ray of the wheelchair found unexpected density in the cushions and a drug-sniffing dog confirmed the presence of narcotics. An investigator then drilled into the cushion and a white, powdery substance was left on the drillbit.
Inside, investigators found a total of 14 one-kilogram packages of cocaine worth $238,000.
Afterward, she was seen pacing a holding cell and said she did not need assistance to move around.
She has been charged with possession of a controlled substance with the intent to distribute.
According to the Chicago Sun-Times, an attorney representing Perez-Pena in her 2021 New York case told the court she had agreed to transport the drugs for money and was forthright with investigators after she was caught.