A man was charged yesterday with attempting to smuggle cocaine and crystal methamphetamine from Los Angeles to Maui.

Salvador Rodriguez was charged in a criminal complaint with possessing with the intent to distribute 11 ounces of cocaine and nearly one-and-one-half pounds of ice. He was arrested Monday night as he got off a plane at Kahului Airport.

Dennis Gary Lee, a Maui police officer assigned to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, said in an affidavit that a "cooperating defendant" on Maui told authorities that Rodriguez was on a Delta Airlines flight from Los Angeles. Lee said federal authorities in Los Angeles told him that Rodriguez boarded the flight before they could arrest him.

When Rodriguez arrived on Maui at about 8:45 p.m. Monday, Lee saw Rodriguez walk straight to a restroom carrying a dark canvas bag.

Lee confronted Rodriguez, but he refused to talk, the affidavit said. Rodriguez was detained and told his bag would be inspected by a Maui police dog.

The dog detected a controlled substance that the affidavit said was cocaine and ice.

Lee did not say how the drugs were packaged, but he did say that smugglers are becoming very clever in how they try to conceal drugs. "We have seen drugs placed in double- and sometimes triple-vacuum-sealed bags," he said. "Carbon paper is used to wrap the drugs. Soap or scented dryer sheets are used in wrapping. All of this is to try and keep the narcotics-detection canine from alerting to the odor of a controlled substance."

Reach Curtis Lum at culum@honoluluadvertiser.com.