MIAMI – U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers caught a man trying to smuggle $300,000 worth of undeclared gold at Miami International Airport after he had just come in on a flight from Ecuador, according to a federal criminal complaint filed Thursday.
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According to the complaint, Diego Marcelo Pazmino Andrade, 46, arrived on the LATAM Airlines flight from Quito on Tuesday and CBP officers flagged him for a secondary inspection.
The complaint states that agents inspected Pazmino Andrade’s carry-on suitcase.
“During the baggage examination, two small wooden boxes and a white pair of headphones were discovered,” a Homeland Security Investigations agent wrote. “The boxes and the headphones were unusually heavy. CBP officers opened the boxes and discovered one small bronze-colored statue and one small white-colored statue, both of which were painted.”
When questioned about the statues, Pazmino Andrade said “he had his assistant purchase both statues for him for approximately $200″ and “was going to gift the statues to two potential business partners,” authorities said.
The complaint states that an X-ray of the headphones revealed “anomalies” and, after opening the speakers, agents discovered “two square-shaped items wrapped in aluminum foil.”
Authorities said the squares would later test at 99.99% pure gold. The bronze and white-colored statues tested at 83.01% and 92.63% gold, authorities said.
Agents then conducted a pat-down of Pazmino Andrade and noticed his belt was “abnormally heavy,” the complaint states.
He “admitted to CBP officers that the belt buckle was made of gold, as well as the two small statues and the two yellow-colored squares concealed inside the headphones” and that “his associate in Ecuador gave him the gold and told him to give it to another associate upon arrival in Miami,” authorities said.
The belt buckle was 95.56% pure gold, the complaint states. The gold, in total, weighed in at 3.105 kg — nearly 7 lb — according to the complaint.
Authorities said they found instructions for hiding the gold in WhatsApp messages on Pazmino Andrade’s cellphone.
“Put a belt with a buckle and some of those figurines that look artisanal, you’ll get through no problem, but if they see a lot of the same items, they might mess with you,” investigators said his associate told him, later saying, “That’s why you must lower the risk by taking it with someone else in case you get checked, nothing happens to you.”
Agents said Pazmino Andrade replied, “Yes, you’re right, tomorrow is going to be my partner.”
They said they also “discovered photos of multiple invoices showing (the) sale of gold” after Pazmino Andrade’s past visits to the U.S.
Pazmino Andrade was arrested on a federal smuggling charge. If convicted, he could spend up to two decades behind bars.
He’s scheduled to appear in Miami federal court on Tuesday for a pre-trial detention hearing, with a preliminary hearing scheduled for March 20.
As of Friday, Pazmino Andrade was being held in the downtown Federal Detention Center, according to Federal Bureau of Prisons records.