Overview
- DEA officials say an intelligence lead prompted monitoring of incoming flights from Los Angeles to O’Hare on January 5.
- Agents identified Nancy Ramos, 20, whose checked luggage yielded about 13 kilograms of suspected cocaine after a canine alert and her consent to a search.
- Investigators later located Vanessa Perez, 27, and a consensual search of her checked bags uncovered roughly 9 kilograms of suspected cocaine.
- Both are charged in Illinois with manufacture-delivery of a controlled substance and possession with intent to deliver, with Cook County prosecutors handling the case and the DEA announcing the arrests on January 9.
- Judge Shauna Boliker released Ramos on electronic monitoring after denying a detention petition, Judge Antara Rivera released Perez pending trial, and the Hamilton/Boone County Drug Task Force assisted the investigation.