Newark Airport Dealer Who Swallowed Pound-Plus Of Heroin Gets 30 Months

An admitted drug dealer from California who flew into Newark Airport after swallowing more than a pound of heroin in dozens of plastic bags -- one of which ruptured -- was sentenced Wednesday to 30 months in federal prison.

Newark Liberty International Airport
Photo Credit: *Wikipedia*

Jerry DeMarco

01/10/2018 12:10 p.m.

Omar Vasques, 24, of Bakersfield, previously admitted swallowing the 81 heroin pellets -- totaling 1.3 pounds and wrapped in plastic baggies -- that he intended to sell when he landed at the airport this past Sept. 16.

Authorities were waiting for him, though, and took Vasques to a hospital -- where emergency surgery was required after doctors discovered that one of the bags had ripped, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito said.

Carpenito credited special agents of the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration for sniffing out and arresting Vasques, who was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan M. Peck of Carpenito's Organized Crime/Drug Enforcement Task Force Unit.

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