Cocaine found in coffee bags; 1 arrest

A Bronx woman was arrested after a search of her luggage revealed more than four pounds of cocaine hidden in coffee bags, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers said Monday.

Federal officials on Wednesday arrested Alicia Jarrett, 32, after she arrived at Kennedy Airport on a flight from Santiago, Dominican Republic, according to a news release.

She is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. No further information was immediately available.

Jarrett was selected for an enforcement exam, and an inspection of her luggage revealed several bags of Blue Mountain coffee. Inside each coffee bag was a "white powdery substance . . . which field tested positive for cocaine," the release said.

Customs officials said the cocaine had an estimated street value of more than $98,000.

Robert E. Perez, director of field operations in New York for Customs and Border Protection, said law enforcement is "committed to intercepting and disrupting any illicit activity at our borders."

It was the second luggage-search cocaine bust at Kennedy Airport in the same week. On March 7, authorities arrested a former Lindenhurst man who allegedly had seven pounds of cocaine -- an estimated street value of $160,000 -- hidden in his luggage.