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(CNN) - Prosecutors say a US Customs and Border Protection official (CBP), accused of smuggling about 18 kilos of cocaine, was caught when a police dog raised an alert about his carry-on luggage at the Atlanta airport.
Ivan Van Beverhoudt, 40, pleaded not guilty Monday in Atlanta to charges of possession and intent to distribute an illegal substance, in addition to having a firearm to promote drug trafficking.
A Van Beverhoudt lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Van Beverhoudt remained in the U.S. Virgin Islands and one of his duties was to inspect flights to prevent the importation of illegal substances, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Atlanta.
According to a sworn statement by a federal official, Van Beverhoudt was traveling from the U.S. Virgin Islands on January 10 with a stop in Atlanta, on his way to Baltimore in an unofficial matter.
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As a CBP official with a government-issued firearm, Van Beverhoudt was not subject to the airline's normal inspection procedures, according to the affidavit. While passing through Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, CBP officers with a K-9 controller and a dog were inspecting passengers who were leaving on the flight they were traveling on, prosecutors said.
As Van Beverhoudt passed, the dog alerted officers to two carry-on bags. Officers asked him to wait on the catwalk until the entire flight was cleared, according to the affidavit.
An agent "observed Van Beverhoudt nervously pacing back and forth on the way to the jet." When the agent tried to question him, he did not respond, the sworn statement assures.
Van Beverhoudt was escorted to an interrogation room where he told officers that he was going to see a doctor for chest pain, but was unable to identify the doctor or explain how he would see him on a weekend without an appointment, according to the Press release.
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The guide and the K-9 dog again alerted Van Beverhoudt's baggage officers, and inside they found 16 bricks weighing 17.9 kilograms in total that yielded a positive cocaine result, the affidavit says.
"This officer allegedly abused his office to engage in criminal conduct," said US Attorney Byung J. Pak in the press release. “Federal law enforcement officers take an oath to enforce the law. When an official violates that oath, he will be investigated and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. ”
Van Beverhoudt was indicted by a federal grand jury on February 4.
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport