Man sentenced to prison for trying to smuggle drugs on flight out of Sky Harbor: MCAO

PHOENIX - The Maricopa County Attorney's Office announced on Jan. 29 that a 39-year-old man has been sentenced for attempting to smuggle drugs during a flight.

What we know:

According to the Jan. 29 statement, Jason Kai was sentenced to five years in prison after he pleaded guilty to a count of Conspiracy to Commit Sale or Transportation of a Dangerous Drug. Per MCAO, this is a class two felony under Arizona law.

The backstory:

Investigators said the incident happened in April 2025, when Kai went to Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport and checked in one suitcase for a flight that was headed to Detroit, Mich.

"When the suitcase was inspected by TSA agents, they noticed something suspicious. Phoenix Police searched inside the bag and found two vacuum sealed bricks hidden in a pool raft box weighing two kilos," they wrote. "The powder inside one of the bricks tested positive for fentanyl."

Per the statement, an additional search of the suitcase uncovered about 15 pounds of meth and a pound of heroin. Kai was eventually removed from the flight, and arrested.