2 sisters who returned from a weeklong Caribbean cruise with $40,000 worth of cocaine pleaded guilty and face up to 20 years in prison

• Takeia Herder and Schneeka Parker took a weeklong cruise touring the Bahamas, Jamaica, and Mexico.
• Border agents discovered about 4.75 kilograms of cocaine substance in the lining of their backpacks.

Two sisters who took a weeklong Caribbean cruise and came back with several kilos of cocaine pleaded guilty on Tuesday to charges of importing a controlled substance.

Takeia Herder and Schneeka Parker, who claimed to be sisters, took a cruise trip on July 16 aboard the MSC Seascape from the port of Miami. The cruise made stops in the Bahamas, Jamaica, and Mexico.

When the pair came back to Miami, US Customs and Border Protection officers conducted a search on board with a narcotic-detection dog that would flag one of the sisters' belongings.

In each of the sisters' backpacks, the officers found a package of about 2.4 kilograms of cocaine, according to a criminal complaint.

The complaint alleged that there was a total of 4.75 kilograms of cocaine estimated to be worth $15,000 to $40,000.

The sisters denied having knowledge of drugs inside their luggage to investigators.

One of the sisters said she noticed that her backpack was "heavier than she originally remembered" after she left her bag behind at a restaurant to use the restroom during their stop in Jamaica.

A laboratory analysis later found that the packages had "a mixture and substance containing a detectable amount of cocaine," according to court documents.

Herder and Parker each agreed to plead guilty to charges of importing a controlled substance, according to court documents filed on Tuesday.

Prosecutors are asking a federal court in Florida to dismiss a charge of conspiracy to import a controlled substance.

Herder and Parker face a maximum of 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $1 million.

Attorneys for Herder and Parker did not immediately respond to a request for comment.