LAX airport: British university student, 20, arrested at Los Angeles Airport after trying to smuggle T-shirts soaked in meth - what is methamphetamine?

Myah Saakwa-Mante, 20, has been charged with illegal drug possession with intent to distribute, among other charges. She was caught at Los Angeles International Airport allegedly attempting to smuggle 13 white T-shirts soaked with methamphetamine.

Prosecutors say Saakwa-Mante was caught at LAX on 2 November attempting to smuggle methamphetamine to Australia, according to a criminal complaint obtained by Fox News Digital. Customs officials found the contraband inside the case after she checked onto her international flight to Brisbane, Australia, the criminal complaint said.

Prosecutors say the methamphetamine was "wet and had been caked into approximately 13 white t-shirts under the suitcase’s internal lining." The remainder of the contraband had become crystallized into a powdery form, according to the criminal complaint.

Officials tested the white powder, which yielded positive results for methamphetamine. The combined weight of the T-shirts with the methamphetamine caked in weighed around 13 kilograms, or just under 30 pounds.

Saakwa-Mante admitted that the suitcase belonged to her and that she had bought the white T-shirts from a Target using Apple Pay, according to the criminal complaint. She also confirmed she had receipts.

She told officials she was a university student living and studying in the UK and was visiting the US for two days. She said she was on her way to Australia to meet her boyfriend, "whom she had never met in person."

When officials asked her about the white powder on the t-shirts, she claimed to have no knowledge of it. Officers escorted Saakwa-Mante to the bag screening area and seized her two iPhones before arresting her.

Methamphetamine is a powerful, highly addictive stimulant that affects the central nervous system. It takes the form of a white, odorless, bitter-tasting crystalline powder that dissolves easily in water or alcohol and may be snorted, swallowed, smoked or injected. In its smokable form, methamphetamine is called “ice,” “crystal,” “crank” or “glass” because of its transparent, sheet-like crystals.

An overdose of methamphetamine can result in seizures, high body temperature, irregular heartbeat, heart attack, stroke and death. The risk of overdose is highest when the drug is injected. Injecting methamphetamine also puts the user at risk of infections from used needles or impurities in the drug, and of hepatitis or HIV if they share needles with others.