Two sisters allegedly brought nearly five kilograms of cocaine into the U.S. during an MSC Cruises sailing last month, an affidavit from a federal investigator said.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers found four packages of a white powdery substance that field-tested positive for the drug among Takeia Herder and Schneeka Parker’s belongings during a July 23 enforcement operation on the MSC Seascape ship in Miami. The ship had returned from a cruise with stops including the Bahamas, Jamaica and Mexico.
The siblings were arrested that same day, and are facing charges of conspiracy to import a controlled substance and importation of a controlled substance, according to court documents.
The affidavit was signed by Summer Louis, a special agent with the Department of Homeland Security. The complaint did not state what prompted law enforcement to conduct the search.
Officers found the packages inside two dark-colored Samsonite backpacks with “an anomaly sewed inside the lining” in each, the affidavit said. Herder and Parker denied any knowledge of the narcotics in the backpacks and said they were not asked or paid to smuggle narcotics, the affidavit said. Attorneys listed for the sisters did not immediately return USA TODAY’s requests for comment.
DHS, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida and MSC Cruises also did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
In the document, Louis estimated the street value of a kilogram of cocaine to be between roughly $15,000 and $40,000, depending on its purity and where it is sold.
Security camera footage reviewed by CBP officers showed Herder and Parker carrying dark-colored backpacks when they checked in for the cruise, and when disembarking and returning to the ship during stops in the Bahamas and Jamaica. During a stop in Mexico, the footage showed the sisters with smaller bags when disembarking from the ship, the affidavit said.
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Herder told law enforcement officials that she invited Parker on the sailing, and that a friend helped Herder pay for it. They met up with that friend – who is not named in the affidavit – and another person during the stop in Jamaica, and went to a restaurant. Herder used the restroom and left her backpack behind. When she picked it up later, she said she noticed it was heavier than before.
Parker said one of Herder’s friends asked her if she wanted a bag to put her towels and other items in, but that she did not notice anything suspicious about it “because she did not see anything inside it,” according to the affidavit.
In a search of the sisters’ cell phones, law enforcement found WhatsApp voice calls, video calls and messages with a phone number that had a Jamaica area code in Herder’s phone. She also sent a message to a contact listed in the device as “Kenny Jamaica” two days before the cruise departed. The message read, in part, “… I don’t know what u doing but am not doing it no more so what ever u got going on let it stop playing with me and now you not going to pick up the phone.” The message did not get a response.
Nathan Diller is a consumer travel reporter for USA TODAY based in Nashville. You can reach him at ndiller@usatoday.com.
