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3:33 AM / Thursday June 18, 2026

27 Feb 2011

Police: Two kids used as drug mules in Philadelphia

February 27, 2011 Category: Local Posted by:

associated press

 

Police last week reported that a woman stuffed the backpacks of her son and stepson with marijuana and sent them out of their home after officers seized 13 pounds of the drug from her husband’s car in a traffic stop.

 

According to NBC10, five people were taken into custody for possession of narcotics, including the parents of 9 and 10-year old boys who were allegedly involved as carriers. The police seized seven pounds of marijuana from the children’s backpacks as their mother was attempting to send them out the door.

 

The elaborate drug bust started with a routine traffic stop because two of the culprits, Rodney Saunders, 39, and Christopher Lewis, 29, were riding without their headlights on. But once authorities saw drug paraphrenalia the whole drug ring was unraveled.

 

The children have been taken by the Department of Human Services and Rodney Saunders, Christopher Lewis, Senya Saunders, Neiya Rawlerson, 19, and Somer Pugh, 33, were all arrested. And police confiscated 9,080 grams of marijuana with a street value of $90,800 as well as $10,476 in cash.

 

Investigators say the traffic stop early Tuesday resulted in the arrest of Rodney Saunders. A few hours later police say his wife, Senya, packed seven pounds of marijuana into the backpacks of her 10-year-old son and 9-year-old stepson in an effort to get it out of her Southwest Philadelphia home.

 

Inspector Scott Small says the parents used the children as “drug mules.”

 

The children are in custody of child welfare workers.

 

NBC10 contributed to this story.

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