According to a local news station in Houston, Texas, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in Galveston found drugs while performing a baggage examination of a cruise passenger following the return of a cruise ship to the Port of Galveston Cruise Port on April 20th.

While checking the baggage, CBP officers reportedly found several vape pens with marijuana THC and several prescription pill bottles. Two of the bottles reportedly contained a powdery substance which tested positive for fentanyl and heroin, according to a press release by CBP. 

Another local news station in Houston reported that the cruise passenger was apprehended with more than 70 grams of heroin mixed with fentanyl and nearly 100 grams of THC vape oil, according to CBP officials.

CBP caption: Heroin and fentanyl were seized from a cruise passenger in Galveston on Sunday, April 20th.

CBP did not release the name of the passenger arrested. USA Today reported that the passenger, a 63-year-old U.S. citizen, was turned over to local authorities after he was arrested. The Port of Galveston Police Department identified the man as a resident of Henderson, Texas who was charged with possession of a controlled substance, a second-degree felony.

Although USA Today decided not to identify the passenger, a review of a database showing the identity of people arrested last Sunday by the Galveston Police Department, indicated that one 63-year-old man was arrested at the port of Galveston for possession of drugs. Jeffrey Don Conkey, age 63, was identified in the online database. A search of his name revealed that the Galveston County Daily News covered the drug arrest in more detail than all other newspapers. It confirmed that Conkey, of Henderson, Texas was returning from a cruise to Mexico when “federal law officers reported finding 2.5 ounces (over 70 grams) of heroin mixed with fentanyl, and 3.4 ounces (over 95 grams) of THC vape oil in his luggage Sunday at the Port of Galveston.”

“Conkey, a passenger on a Royal Caribbean ship, was picked for a more detailed than usual screening because he had been ‘encountered for bringing marijuana through a border crossing back in 2018,’ according to a probable cause affidavit.”

Conkey was booked in the Galveston County Jail and later released after he posted a $75,000 bond.

The CBP did not identify the name of the cruise ship where the person disembarked. However, the only cruise ship to arrive at the port of Galveston on Sunday, April 20th was Royal Caribbean’s Harmony of the Seas which returned from a seven day cruise to Roatan, Honduras and Costa Maya, Mexico. It is not unusual for federal law enforcement to not disclose the name of the cruise ship to avoid causing embarrassment to the cruise line.

According to the CDC and the CBP, synthetic opioids like fentanyl are the primary cause of overdose deaths in the United States.

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April 24, 2025 Update: Conkey was also arrested in July 2021 on drug charges.

Image credit: Drugs – CBP press release via KHOU 11 (Houston); CBP press release; Jeffrey Don Conkey – Busted Newspaper; Harmony of the Seas – Kees Tom commons / wikimedia; Harmony of the Seas at Galveston port – Houston Public Media.