COLOMBIAN TEEN FACES TRAFFICKING CHARGE

Deputies: Boy, Father Brought Heroin On Flight

A teen from Colombia was charged as an adult Friday for his role in a
failed attempt with his father to smuggle about 11 pounds of heroin
through Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport last month,
according to the Broward Sheriff's Office.

Investigators said the 16-year-old orchestrated the attempt and
recruited his father, [redacted], also from Colombia.

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel is not identifying the suspect because
of his age.

The duo flew in from Bogota on Dec. 1 and was detained by U.S. Customs
and Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement when agents
thought there was something suspicious about the father and son, the
Sheriff's Office said.

The agents called the sheriff's Interdiction Task Force, which tries
to interrupt drug trafficking operations in the county.

When detectives with the task force reached the airport, they searched
a backpack and a laptop computer case that the father and son carried
and found the drugs hidden inside them, authorities said.

The father later told detectives his son owed someone money and had
agreed to transport the drugs, the Sheriff's Office said. The father
and son face felony charges of trafficking heroin.

[redacted], who also faces an immigration hearing, is being held without
bond. His son is being held on $500,000 bond.