Guilty pleas close 2010 hidden heroin case

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — The last defendants in a 2010 New Hanover County drug bust pleaded guilty and are headed to prison.

Acting on a tip five years ago detectives stopped a minivan to look for heroin. While they couldn’t see it an X-ray did revealing a hidden compartment containing several drugs. Police took the van’s owner and girlfriend into custody then. After 18 months in jail waiting for trial, the couple pleaded guilty to trafficking heroin. She received a suspended sentence of 15-18 months and he received a suspended sentence of 41-59 months. Prosecutors are withholding their names due to their cooperation with law enforcement.

Three years later they arrested two others: Ibn Johnson and Kelvin Quinerly. Those two will spend from about four to seven years in prison.

Investigators said the drugs were stashed in a side compartment of the minivan’s rear sliding door, but there was a catch. The only way anyone could open the compartment was with the flick of a secret switch hidden in the front air vents and underneath the dashboard.