A crew member aboard a Miami-based cruise ship was arrested on smuggling charges after Royal Caribbean security officers found a laundry bag full of cocaine and 3,000 ecstasy tablets aboard the vessel, the U.S. Customs Service said on Tuesday.
Shipboard security officers said the crewman, Peter Westman Campbell of Jamaica, acted suspiciously after Vision of the Seas left the Caribbean island of Curacao on Friday, a Customs spokesman said.
They reportedly found a laundry bag with 38.7 lbs. of cocaine in Campbell's possession, detained him aboard the ship and turned him over to Customs officers.
A subsequent search by ship officers turned up another 18.7 lbs. of cocaine and 3,000 ecstasy tablets hidden near the ship's beauty salon, the officer said.
He added that when the ship arrived at the Port of Miami on Monday, federal agents found an additional 132 lbs. of cocaine aboard.
Campbell was arrested on smuggling charges along with two other crewmen, who were detained and questioned by federal agents and will be deported, the officer said. - (Reuters)