Cruise ship cocaine smuggler busted

If you were going to smuggle drugs into the country, would you rather try to schlep across the Arizona desert before you dehydrated to death, or book a nice balcony stateroom on a cruise ship? We know our preference, but we're partial to cruising. According to authorities, so was a would-be mule named Dwight Whitehead whose luck ran out.

Dwight's alleged plan was to strap his duffel bag of drugs to a life preserver and throw it overboard from the Carnival Legend as the ship neared Fort Lauderdale, presumably so a confederate could scoop it up in the wake of the passing ship. Sadly for Dwight, the pilot boat (that delivers a local pilot to the cruise ship to navigate into its dock) found his goodies first.

Next, here's our dramatization of what may have happened after Columbo came onboard to crack the case:

- Officer: Did the ship's staff notice anybody behaving suspiciously?
- Carnival: Well, the guy in 6144 only left his stateroom once the entire cruise, in Panama. Is that the kind of thing you mean?
- Officer: Uh, yeah, anything else?
- Carnival: He watched the cabin steward like a hawk whenever he was cleaning.
- Officer: Let's go talk to Mr. Stateroom 6144, why don't we?

No word on whether Dwight was part of a larger cruise ship drug smuggling scheme like the one busted last year.

NBC2 Online: Man allegedly smuggled cocaine on cruise ship