A Compton, California, man was indicted by a federal grand jury today after law enforcement officers found more than 18 kilograms of methamphetamine in a suitcase he was smuggling through Kansas City, Mo., aboard a bus bound for Atlanta, Georgia.

Diego Ruiz-Bibian, 19, was charged with possessing methamphetamine with the intent to distribute in an indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Kansas City, Mo. Today’s indictment replaces a federal criminal complaint that was filed against Ruiz-Bibian on Feb. 14, 2023.

According to an affidavit filed in support of the original criminal complaint, detectives with the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department contacted Ruiz-Bibian at a local bus station on Feb. 13, 2023, when he arrived in Kansas City traveling aboard a bus from Denver, Colorado, on his way to Atlanta. Although one of the detectives had seen Ruiz-Bibian pick up a hard-sided suitcase from the luggage area of the bus, the affidavit says, he told the detectives it did not belong to him.

A detective searched the suitcase and found eight bundles in heat-sealed “Food Saver” style bags, which contained a total of 18.33 kilograms of methamphetamine.

The charge contained in this indictment is simply an accusation, and not evidence of guilt. Evidence supporting the charge must be presented to a federal trial jury, whose duty is to determine guilt or innocence.

This case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Missouri Western Interdiction Narcotics (MoWIN) Task Force.

Original source can be found here