{"id":367593,"date":"2026-08-10T16:52:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T16:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/367593\/"},"modified":"2026-08-10T16:52:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T16:52:09","slug":"avianca-crew-member-busted-for-smuggling-gold-after-arriving-in-miami-feds-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/367593\/","title":{"rendered":"Avianca crew member busted for smuggling gold after arriving in Miami, feds say"},"content":{"rendered":"

MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. \u2014 A crew member from Colombian airline Avianca is facing a federal charge in South Florida after authorities said he was busted smuggling gold after arriving at Miami International Airport.<\/p>\n

Leer en espa\u00f1ol<\/a><\/p>\n

According to a federal criminal complaint obtained by Local 10 News on Monday, Jhon Alexander Herrera Giraldo arrived on Avianca Flight AV06 from Bogota on Wednesday and said he had nothing to declare to customs agents.<\/p>\n

However, it states that agents conducting a pat-down noticed that the 40-year-old, who\u2019s been with the airline for nearly two decades, was wearing a silver-colored chain around his neck and asked him about it. <\/p>\n

Authorities said Herrera Giraldo initially claimed the chain was platinum, but then \u201cstated that it was gold but claimed he had owned it for years.\u201d<\/p>\n

They said he \u201clater admitted that the chain was not his\u201d and said \u201can individual named \u2018Leandro\u2019 had given him the chain in Colombia and instructed him to deliver it to an individual named \u2018Lalo\u2019 the next day,\u201d saying that \u201cthat the chain had already been painted silver when \u2018Leandro\u2019 gave it to him and that he believed the chain was painted to conceal the fact that it was gold.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Photo Black and white image of the seized gold chain as seen in a federal criminal complaint. (USDOJ) <\/p>\n

Authorities said Herrera Giraldo admitted he lied about the chain at first because he was \u201cscared\u201d and said \u201che received approximately $200 to $300 for each trip on which he brought a chain\u201d to the U.S., making three such trips over the past four months.<\/p>\n

According to the complaint, the chain weighed in at around 240 grams and was \u201cmade of high-purity gold consistent with merchandise intended for sale or other commercial use.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though the complaint doesn\u2019t state where authorities suspect the gold came from, according to Business Insider, illegal gold mining<\/a> is now Colombia\u2019s \u201cmost profitable illicit industry\u201d and the U.S. is the country\u2019s number-one destination for smuggled gold.<\/p>\n

As for Herrera Giraldo, agents arrested him on a charge of smuggling goods into the United States, which can carry a 20-year prison sentence<\/a>.<\/p>\n

His federal court file did not list any upcoming hearings and he remained held in the Federal Detention Center in downtown Miami as of Monday morning.<\/p>\n

Local 10 News contacted Avianca on Monday morning seeking comment on Herrera Giraldo\u2019s arrest. <\/p>\n

\ud83c\udfe0 News From Your Neighborhood<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WPLG Local10.com – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. \u2014 A crew member from Colombian airline Avianca is facing a federal charge in South…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":367594,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,124],"class_list":["post-367593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=367593"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/367593\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/367594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=367593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=367593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=367593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}