Feds seize over 300 kilos of cocaine in throwback bust at Opa-locka airport

It was a throwback bust right out of Miami Vice.

The feds discovered 294 plastic-wrapped bricks of cocaine during a routine X-ray baggage inspection after a U.S. Virgin Islands charter flight landed at Opa-locka Executive Airport Tuesday night.

Total haul: 328 kilos. Number arrested so far: five. A sixth suspect in the drug-distribution conspiracy is expected to surrender Thursday.

“The bricks were inside several duffle bags and suitcases belonging to the only passengers on the private plane,” according to a criminal complaint filed by Homeland Security Investigations.

The named flight passengers are: Shakim Mike, Maleek Leanard, Roystin David and a fourth person identified as “Target 1.” Mike is an officer with the U.S. Virgin Islands Police Department, authorities said.

All of the defendants all U.S. citizens residing in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, and are scheduled to have their first appearances in Miami federal court Thursday afternoon.

While Customs and Border Protection officers did the inspection of their baggage, Mike fled the airport, the complaint says. During questioning, Target 1 told Customs officers that he arranged with Mike to smuggle the cocaine on the private charter flight from St. Thomas. According to Target 1, Mike paid half of the charter fees, $11,000, up front, and then gave money orders to Target 1 to pay another $11,000, the complaint says.

Target 1 also told the officers that another associate, Trevon Adams, was going to travel from Tampa to Miami to pick up the passengers with their cocaine load and drive them to Orlando. Adams is among the four named defendants charged in the complaint.

In addition, Leanard told the officers that Mike and Target 1 recruited him to help transport the cocaine, according to the complaint.

During questioning, David said he knew Mike and Target 1 from David’s work with the U.S. Army National Guard. David also said he did not know the baggage on the flight contained cocaine, though he admitted helping load the bags onto the plane for the trip from St. Thomas to Miami.

Customs officers obtained permission to search David’s smartphone and found messages between him and Target 1 that read: “moving product,” “recruiting flight attendants,” “invest all the money from our bricks,” “meeting the big dogs in Santo Domingo,” and “living off the airport trips,” according to the complaint.

David also said the last words he heard from Mike before he fled the Opa-locka airport were: “Oh shit, I think we should run.”

Later on, both Customs officers and Homeland Security investigators tracked down Adams and he agreed to surrender. Adams, who was in Tampa, said he was supposed to get paid between $9,000 and $10,000 for transporting the passengers and their cocaine on the flight.

As the probe progressed, investigators uncovered that another suspect, Anthon Berkeley, was going to travel from Orlando to Miami to pick up one kilo of cocaine from the plane shipment and deliver it to a buyer in Orlando. Berkeley told investigators that he was supposed to be paid $18,000 for the transport job.

Berkeley was charged in a separate complaint.