Wheelchair Cushion Hid $238k Of Cocaine In Illinois Arrest

How creative can we get?

Drug busts can be interesting to read about. Because how much did they try to cover up the goods? What's the bounty on them from the cartel if they get caught? Sometimes, these criminals try to cover it up. Other times, not so much.

But a woman at Chicago O'Hare airport really did try to cover it up. In fact, she sat on it.

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According to NBC Chicago, 35-year-old Elaine Perez-Pena had already pleaded guilty in 2022 to smuggling drugs and served 9 months in custody for it. Now, she's back at it.

On Saturday, she was flying from Brazil to Newark, New Jersey with a layover in Chicago. She was stopped for a secondary inspection when she got off the plane at O'Hare due to her 2022 conviction.

She told inspectors her leg hurt and she was escorted to the bathroom. They didn't find anything in her luggage but when they started looking at the wheelchair, the X-ray machine showed that there were "anomalies" in the density of the cushions. The drug dog confirmed that something was in them.

They found 14 1-kilogram packages of cocaine in the cushions, each one about $17,000 in value, for a total of at least $238,000.

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Later, when she was pacing around in a holding cell, she allegedly told authorities that she didn't need her cane or wheelchair to get around.

There's no word on what charges she's facing or what the next legal action will be.