(WBBM NEWSRADIO) – Two Detroit men allegedly tried to bring 44 pounds of fentanyl – the deadly synthetic opioid blamed in countless overdoses – through Midway Airport earlier this week, authorities say.
Jamire Hollingshed, 26, and 24-year-old Robert Lewis are each charged with manufacture-delivery of more than 900 grams fentanyl, the U.S.
Drug Enforcement Agency announced Thursday.
DEA officials say the agency learned that the two men previously had flown into Midway from Los Angeles with illegal narcotics and were scheduled to arrive Tuesday at the airport.
After Holingshed and Lewis landed, authorities intercepted them at baggage claim and got permission to search their luggage, officials said. Both men had checked luggage allegedly containing 22 pounds of fentanyl, concealed in clothing items.
Hollingshed Lewis denied knowing each other or anything about the fentanyl, officials said.
Hollingshed later said someone was paying him to deliver the bag to someone in Chicago, but he didn’t know who was paying him or who he was supposed to give the fentanyl to when he arrived, prosecutors say.
Both defendants were ordered held on more than $1.5 million bond each in Cook County Circuit Court, the DEA said.
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