A 58-year-old man from Selawik, Alaska, has been charged with a felony drug offence after Transportation Security Administration screeners at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport found suspected cocaine hidden inside a coffee container in his luggage, according to the Alaska Department of Public Safety and a charging document reported by KOTZ radio in Kotzebue.
Source: KOTZ Radio, Kotzebue
Walter Lee Berry was arrested early on Wednesday, November 11, after TSA officers carrying out a secondary baggage screening noticed a white, chalky substance, the Department of Public Safety said. Investigators with the Anchorage Airport Interdiction Team responded at about 6:55 a.m. and determined that the bag belonged to Berry.
Source: Fox News, reporting Alaska Department of Public Safety
How a routine screening became an arrest
The charging document says TSA screeners found two vacuum-sealed bags of the substance hidden inside a coffee container, which was packed in a cooler checked for the journey north. The substance, with a gross weight of about 185 grams — less than half a pound — field-tested positive for cocaine, according to the Department of Public Safety.
Officers contacted Berry at the departure gate as he prepared to board a flight from Anchorage to Kotzebue, officials said. His final destination was Selawik, the small northwestern Alaska community where he lives. He was arrested at the gate and taken to the Anchorage Correctional Complex.
The charge, and what it carries
Berry is charged with one count of third-degree misconduct involving a controlled substance, a felony under Alaska law, authorities said. The charge is an allegation: Berry has not been convicted, he did not enter a plea at his first court appearance, and he is presumed innocent unless prosecutors prove the case in court.
According to KOTZ, which read the charging document, a conviction on the charge can carry up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $100,000. Berry made his first court appearance on Thursday, November 12, requested a public defender and did not enter a plea.
A judge set Berry's bail at $5,000 cash and ordered drug testing as a condition of release. KOTZ reported that Berry remained jailed at the Anchorage Correctional Complex on Thursday. His next hearing is scheduled for November 19 in Anchorage.
Why Anchorage airport is the choke point
Anchorage is the air hub for much of rural Alaska. Travellers heading to northwestern communities such as Kotzebue and Selawik pass through Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport and connect onward by air, which makes the airport the main screening point on the route — and the place where the Anchorage Airport Interdiction Team focuses its work.
That geography is also why the department priced the seizure the way it did: the $27,750 estimate is specifically the street value officials put on the drugs in the Kotzebue and Selawik area, where goods flown into remote communities command far higher prices than in Anchorage. The Western Alaska Alcohol and Narcotics Team is assisting with the investigation, which officials said remains ongoing.
What happens next
Berry is due back in court in Anchorage on November 19. Prosecutors will have to prove the substance, its weight and his knowledge of it in court; the field test reported by the Department of Public Safety is a preliminary result, not a conviction. The Department of Public Safety said the investigation is continuing with assistance from the Western Alaska Alcohol and Narcotics Team, and no further arrests had been announced as of Friday.