Screeners find suspected cocaine in a coffee container bound for Selawik, troopers say

Airport screeners in Anchorage searched a coffee container in a Selawik man's checked bag Wednesday morning and found about 185 grams of suspected cocaine hidden inside, Alaska State Troopers said.

Officers with the Anchorage Airport Interdiction Team, a drug task force, found the 58-year-old at the gate for his flight to Kotzebue, headed to Selawik. The white, chalky substance tested positive for cocaine in a field test, troopers said.

Troopers estimated it would have sold for $27,750 in Kotzebue and Selawik.

He was arrested on a felony charge of third-degree misconduct involving a controlled substance and taken to the Anchorage Correctional Complex. A charge is an accusation, and he is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.

Most of the cocaine, fentanyl, heroin and methamphetamine seized by the state's drug unit last year was seized in Anchorage, including at the airport. The unit's cocaine seizures rose by about two-thirds, to more than 51 kilograms, according to the state's 2025 drug report.