JACKSONVILLE, Fla., March 11 (UPI) -- A Florida man was charged with trafficking as much as 90 pounds of cocaine on tugboat runs to Jacksonville, Fla., from Puerto Rico, authorities said.
Jamar Leveal Reed, of Jacksonville, was to be arraigned in Duval County Court Thursday after U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents arrested him following his arrival in Jacksonville by plane, police said.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents had received a tip a bag of cocaine was on board a tugboat arriving from Puerto Rico Monday, The (Jacksonville) Florida Times-Union reported.
The agents intercepted the tug when it docked. They found the cocaine and learned from someone on the tug that an unidentified man had handed him a bag in Puerto Rico and asked him to stow it on board. The unidentified man said he would fly in later to retrieve it, an arrest report said.
The person on the tugboat said he didn't know what was in the bag.
Another man who later went to the tug came to get the bag told agents he didn't know what was in the bag either and agreed to call Reed and set up a sting transfer, the Times-Union said.
Agents watched as Reed, 29, arrived by plane at Jacksonville International Airport Monday afternoon and went to the pickup point, where he was arrested.
Reed initially agreed to cooperate with agents, but retracted his offer and was jailed Wednesday, the arrest report said.
The same type of drug transfer had been done seven or eight other times in the past three months, with 1 pound to more than 11 pounds of cocaine carried on each tugboat run, the report said.
Authorities did not say where they believed the cocaine originated.
