CBP officers find potentially dangerous pill cache in two travelers’ baggage at BWI Airport

BALTIMORE – U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers discovered a cache or prohibited prescription pills in two travelers’ baggage recently at Baltimore Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI).

It is not unusual or illegal for passengers to travel with prescription medicines for the duration of their trip, but importing hundreds of prescription pills in traveler baggage and without a prescription is kind of a no-no.

On Saturday, CBP officers inspected the baggage of a U.S. citizen returning from Bogota, Colombia, and found 360 Zopiclone 7.5 mg tablets still in blister packs.

On August 20, CBP officers discovered 279 Zopiclone 7.5 mg tablets and 180 Alprazolam 0.5 mg tablets in blister packs in the baggage of a U.S. citizen returning from Panama City, Panama.

Neither traveler was arrested.

Zopiclone and Alprazolam are classified by the DEA as a schedule IV controlled substance and require a doctor’s prescription.

According to the National Institute of Health, Zopiclone is a hypnosedative medication prescribed over a short period of time to treat insomnia. It has the potential for being an agent of abuse and addiction.

Alprazolam, commonly known under the brand name Xanax, is from the benzodiazepines class of medications and is used to treat anxiety and panic disorders. Xanax poses life-threatening consequences when abused by recreational users.

The Food and Drug Administration generally prohibits the importation of medicines manufactured overseas unless the medicines have been evaluated and approved by the FDA for import. Medicines purchased overseas may be safe, but there is also the risk that medicines sold in black markets or on the global marketplace may contain unsafe and dangerous ingredients.

“There is a significant concern with the efficacy of any medicines purchased through the global marketplace or smuggled into the United States from overseas,” said Jason Kropiewnicki, CBP’s Acting Area Port Director in Baltimore. “Consumers looking to save a buck and recreational users seeking a cheap high by buying pills online or on the street are betting with their lives that the pills they take are authentic and not lined with dangerous chemicals, such as fentanyl.”

If you are taking prescription medicines under a doctor’s care and are traveling overseas, please read CBP’s advice on traveling with medication.

CBP's border security mission is led at our nation’s Ports of Entry by CBP officers and agriculture specialists from the Office of Field Operations. CBP screens international travelers and cargo and searches for illicit narcotics, unreported currency, weapons, counterfeit consumer goods, prohibited agriculture, invasive weeds and pests, and other illicit products that could potentially harm the American public, U.S. businesses, and our nation’s safety and economic vitality.

See what CBP accomplished during "A Typical Day" in 2024. Learn more at www.CBP.gov.

Follow the Director of CBP’s Baltimore Field Office on Twitter at @DFOBaltimore for breaking news, current events, human interest stories and photos, and CBP’s Office of Field Operations on Instagram at @cbpfieldops.