O‘ahu man charged after 26 pounds of marijuana found in checked box at Kona airport

Transportation Security Administration staff examined a checked Home Depot box at the Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport on Sunday and found 22 vacuum-sealed bags of a leafy substance that appeared to be marijuana.

The box, bound for Honolulu on a Southwest Airlines flight, was hand-inspected by personnel because it was too large to through the standard baggage scanner, according to court documents.

The owner of the box, Malakai John Mikaele of O’ahu, his girlfriend Napua Ku‘uipo Aumua-Yamamoto and her young child were detained at 8:45 a.m. while Hawai‘i Island police were called to further examined the contents.

The responding officers field-tested the contents of the vacuum-sealed bags, which were inside a garbage bag of the box, and confirmed they were presumptive positive for marijuana. They also weighed the bags, which added up to about 26 pounds, court documents said.

Mikaele was taken into custody on Sunday, charged with first-degree commercial promotion of marijuana and first-degree promotion of a detrimental drug.

He made an initial appearance in Kona District Court on Tuesday, where his $250,000 bail was reduced to $50,000. The 30-year-old has since posted bond and is out of jail.

During a preliminary hearing Wednesday afternoon, the District Court judge found there was probable cause to commit Mikaele to 3rd Circuit Court. An arraignment and plea hearing is scheduled for June 6.

Aumua-Yamamoto was initially arrested but was not officially charged.

According to court documents, six additional checked-in bags were under Mikaele’s itinerary, however, the bags were already on the plane bound for Honolulu. They were immediately returned to the Kona airport where police took custody of them on the tarmac at 10:45 a.m.

It is unknown if any of the additional luggage contained marijuana at this time.