American Airlines employees stumbled across seven neatly-wrapped bricks of cocaine stashed in the nose cone of one of their planes during a routine maintenance check in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The coke's street value was estimated at between $200,000 and $400,000.
The Boeing 757 had arrived from Bogota, Colombia with a Miami stop in between, according to KOKI-TV. Authorities said the maintenance base workers were performing a routine check when the bricks of suspected cocaine were found.
The Tulsa County Sheriff's Office told the Tulsa World the cocaine weighed about 30 pounds. Authorities said the coke had a minimum street value of roughly $200,000, with some estimates ranging up to $434,000.
"This plane actually came from Bogota and landed in Miami, and got picked up on the computer system for routine maintenance," said Mike Moore of the sheriff's office, per KFOR-TV. "And usually that happens in Miami, and they were overloaded and that’s when it got here."
Sheriff's office spokeswoman Casey Roebuck told the Tulsa World the case was being turned over to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration office in Miami.
Roebuck said the bricks were placed in what appeared to be new insulation and covered with wheel grease in a likely attempt to mask the scent from drug-sniffing dogs.
CNN reported that an American Airlines spokesman said the company's corporate security team is cooperating with law enforcement.
In 1999, nearly 60 people, mostly American Airlines employees, faced federal drug smuggling conspiracy charges following a 2 1/2-year undercover operation during which airline ramp agents and Sky Chefs food service workers thought they were transporting drugs, according to CNN.
In that sting operation, authorities made arrest in New York and Florida.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.