CHARLOTTE AMALIE — A California man who tried to fly 31 pounds of marijuana from Virginia to the St. Thomas airport was arrested on Sunday. He is the second Californian caught smuggling here in the last three days.
Victor Hugo Ruiz, 32, of Hayward, was brought before U.S. Magistrate Judge Ruth Miller for his initial
court appearance after being charged with possession with intent to distribute marijuana
arrested on December 11, 2022 at the Cyril E. King Airport, U.S. Attorney Delia L. Smith said.
According to court documents, Ruiz arrived in St. Thomas on United Airlines flight 1443 from Dulles International Airport in Virginia with forty-one vacuum sealed packages containing a green leafy substance in his checked suitcases.
After Ruiz confirmed to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers that the suitcases were indeed his, the officers field tested the green leafy substance which yielded a positive reaction for the presence of marijuana and weighed approximately 14 kilograms.
The Department of Homeland Security-Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) is investigating the case which is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) investigation.
OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs, and transnational criminal organizations that threaten the United States by using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach that leverages the strengths of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies against criminal networks.
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