Lеe Andrew Campbell appeals his conviction of possessing cocaine with intent to distribute in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1) (1982). The sole issue on appeal is whether Campbell was unlawfully seized in violation of the fourth amendment before he consented to a search of his coat which revealed cocaine in its pocket. The district court,
1
adopting the recommendations of the magistrate, concluded that Campbell was lawfully seized based on reasonable and articulable suspicion of criminal activity under the principles of
Terry v. Ohio,
Campbell arrived in St. Louis on TWA Flight # 72 from Los Angeles at 5:30 a.m. on July 24, 1986, wearing a heavy winter coat and carrying only a shoulder bag. Campbell walked very quickly as he entered the concourse. DEA agents had watched the arrival of this flight once a week since June. They were particularly interested in this flight because Los Ange-les is considered a source of drugs, the flight left Los Angeles after DEA agents there went off duty, and arrived in St. Louis at a time when its airport was uncrowded. As Campbell left the gate, he looked behind him several times, did not check the arrival or departure boards or pick up baggage, and went directly to the outside area for departing passengers. DEA agents Benjamin Scott and Linda Harold followed him through the terminal and outside.
Agent Scott, who was dressed in plain clothes, identified himsеlf to Campbell as a DEA agent and asked if he would talk with him. Campbell stopped walking and Scott asked to see his airline ticket. Campbell produced a one-way ticket from Los Ange-les to St. Louis purchased with cash. Scott then asked for identification, and Campbell provided a Missouri identification card in the name of John Evans, which matched the airline ticket name of J. Evans. During the conversation Scott noticed that Campbell’s voice sounded nervous and that his hands trеmbled when he handed him the airline ticket. Scott examined the airline ticket and identification card and according to the findings of the district court, he did not return them to Campbell. 2 Scott *1091 informed Campbell that as a narcotics agent, he was looking for certain things that people do that sometimes indicate that they are transporting narcotics and that Campbell had done several of these things. He asked, and received, permission to search Campbell’s carry-оn bag, but found only clothing. Campbell still appeared nervous and Scott asked if he “would mind” if he searched his coat pockets. Campbell hesitated several seconds and then told him to “go ahead.” He searched the outer pockets and found nothing. However, he could feel through Campbell’s coat pocket that there was some sort of package in the inner upper left-hand pocket and he reached inside. As he reached in the pocket Campbell raised his hands as if to block Scott, but their hands did not make contact. Scott asked what the package was and Campbell replied that “it was nothing.” Scott removed the package, a plastic bag wrapped in tape and containing a white powder, from the pocket. This entire encounter occurred in a public place at the drop-off point for departing passengers.
Agent Scott told Campbell that he believed the powder was cocaine and that he was taking him to the airport police office. Campbell said that he was “not going anywhere.” At that point Agent Harold, who had been standing ten to twenty feet away, unnoticed by Campbell, stepped closer and helped handcuff Campbell. When they reached an interview room the agents searched Campbell and found a second package taped to the small of his back under his shirt. Scott field-tested the substance in the first package and found it to be cocaine. Scott then arrested Campbell and informed him of his Miranda rights. The bags contained a total of 237.6 grams of pure cocaine.
Campbell moved to suppress the cocaine seized from him at the airport, arguing that the initial contact by Agent Scott was an unlawful seizure which rendered all evidence obtained thereafter inadmissible as “fruit of the poisonous tree.”
Wong Sun v. United States,
In denying the motion to suppress, the district court determined that the initial encounter was consensual, requiring no objective justification, and that Campbell answered the questions put tо him voluntarily. The court then determined that the encounter matured into an investigative, Terry-type seizure which did not violate the fourth amendment because it was based on a reasonable and articulable suspicion of criminal activity and was properly limited in scope and duration. The court further found that Campbell consented to the search of his bag and coat and that once Agent Scott found the packet of white powder, probable cause еxisted to arrest Campbell. After waiving his right to trial by jury, Campbell was convicted and sentenced to six years’ imprisonment plus a three year mandatory parole term.
I.
Not every encounter between law enforcement officers and an individual constitutes a seizure within the meaning of the fourth amendment.
INS v. Delgado,
The district court did not err in finding that the initial encounter was consensual. The court correctly concluded that Scott did not seize Campbell when he approached him outside the airport, identified himself as a narcotics agent and asked Campbell if he would answer a few questions.
See, e.g., United States v. Poitier,
The district court’s conclusion that a
Terry
-type investigatory stop and seizure within the meaning of
Terry
occurred can only be basеd on the district court’s finding that Scott retained Campbell’s ticket and identification card. An officers’ retention of an airline ticket or a driver’s license has been treated as a significant factor in determining that a seizure has occurred.
4
Suspects deprived of their ticket or license are effectively deprived of the practical ability to terminate the questioning and leave.
See Royer,
The standard of articulable justification required by the fourth amendment for an investigative, Terry-type seizure is whether the police officers were aware of “particularized, objective facts which, taken together with rational inferences from those facts, reasonably warranted] suspicion that a crime [was] being committed.”
United States v. Martin,
In light of these principles we evaluate the circumstances known to Agent Scott at the time the seizure occurred: (1) Campbell arrived on a flight from Los Angeles, a known “source” city for drugs; (2) Campbell arrived on a flight which agents had been watching because it left Los Angeles after DEA agents there went off duty; (3) Campbell arrived in St. Louis at a time when the airport was uncrowded; (4) Campbell walked very quickly and did not check the arrival or departure boards; (5) Campbell looked behind him several times while walking; (6) Campbell did not pick up any checked luggage and carried no luggage other than a carry-on bag; (7) Campbell wore a winter coat in late July; 5 (8) Campbell used а one-way ticket paid for in cash; and (9) Campbell was very nervous while talking with the agent and he remained nervous even after handing Scott his ticket and identification, which revealed no apparent discrepancies.
The facts outlined above, unlike those in
Reid v. Georgia,
when viewed collectively, are sufficient to have aroused a reasonable, articulable suspicion that criminal activity was afoot. There, the stop was held unlawful because the law enforcement officer stopped Reid mеrely on a “hunch” that Reid and another man were trying to conceal the fact that they were traveling together.
Unlike the facts in
Reid,
the facts Agent Sсott relied on do not “describe a very large category of presumably innocent travelers * *
Reid,
Having decided that Agent Scott had valid grounds for an investigatory stop, we must further ascertain whether the agents transformed the encounter into a full-scale arrest before they had probable cause. We believe that an arrest did not take place until after Agent Scott discovered the white powder in Campbell’s coat pocket, and at that time probable cause existed.
See Michigan v. DeFillippo,
II.
Having concluded that the search of Campbell’s coat pockets was not preceded by an impermissible seizure, Campbell cannot contеnd that his consent to the subsequent search was infected by an unlawful detention.
Mendenhall,
The district court cоncluded that Campbell voluntarily consented to the search of his coat. Because the issue of consent is usually a factual one, a district court’s finding of voluntariness must be accepted on appeal unless clearly erroneous.
United States v. Turpin,
We conclude that Campbell’s fourth amendment right to be free from unreasonable seizurе was not violated, and that he voluntarily consented to the search of his coat. The district court therefore properly denied Campbell’s motion to suppress and we affirm his conviction.
Notes
. The Honorable John F. Nangle, United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Missouri.
. We have serious questions about this finding, although the government does not attack it as clearly erroneous. In the hearing before the magistrate, Agent Scott testified that he asked to see and looked at Campbell’s airline ticket and identification. He does not indicate whether he returned the items while he continued to talk with Campbell. Campbell testified that Scott put the tickets and identification card in his *1091 pocket and they were not returned to him. After this conflict was called to the attention of the magistrate, the government volunteered to recall Agent Scott; however, it did not do so. Although the magistrate determined that Scott’s testimony was more credible than Campbеll's on the issue of whether Campbell consented to the search of his coat and luggage, the magistrate made no finding as to whether the ticket and identification were returned by Scott. The magistrate found only that Scott asked to see and looked at the ticket and identification.
In the trial before the district court, Scott and Agent Linda Harold both testified that after examining the ticket and identification Scott returned it to Campbell and it was only after Campbell was formally аrrested that these items were confiscated by Agent Scott. Campbell did not testify. The district court recited in its order that it considered the pleadings, the stipulations of the parties and the evidence introduced at trial and further recited that it was “fully advised in the premises.” We do not know whether the district court studied the transcript of the hearing before the magistrate. Campbell's testimony in the hearing before the magistrate is the only evidence that would support the district court’s finding thаt Scott did not return the ticket and identification card. Rather than remand this case for a fuller consideration of this issue, we will consider it based upon the district court’s findings in its order. As we will further explain, had the district court determined that Scott returned the ticket and identification, there would be no basis for saying a seizure occurred and the entire incident would have been a consensual one.
. The "drug courier profile” is an informal compilation of characteristics often displayed by those trafficking in drugs. In this case, the agent’s attention was drawn to the following facts considered to be within the profile: Campbell departed from Los Angeles, a “source" city; he used a one-way airline ticket purchased with cash; he arrived early in the morning; and he carried only carry-on luggage. The parties have vigorously argued over whether the "drug courier profile” is sufficient to sustain any seizure of Campbell. Campbell argues that the profile was insufficient to support a seizure; the government essentially argues that this is a profile-plus case. A number of decisions of the Supreme Court and appellate courts have made reference to the profile. We are aware that the profile has value to experienced police officers in determining whether or not further investigation efforts are required. We do not believe, however, that a bright-line rule approving the profile need be drawn. Our review of the propriety of any seizure must be based on a review of the totality *1092 of the circumstances surrounding the event. The fact that the profile was or was not utilized in the initial conversation and ultimate seizure is merely one of the factors that must be considered and evaluated.
.
See, e.g., Royer,
. Agent Scott testified that Campbell was the only arriving passenger wearing a coat; the other arriving passengers were "casually" dressed, "most passengers were wearing short-sleevе shirts."
. The Supreme Court confronted the reasonable suspicion issue more recently in
Florida v. Royer,
.
See e.g., United States v. Alpert,
. The presence of coercion is relevant to determining not only whether there is voluntary consent but also to whether a seizure has occurred. We note that absent the finding of the district court that Scott retained the ticket and identification card, there is no other evidence of coercion to justify a conclusion that this encounter, up to and including the point in which Scott felt the suspicious bundle in Campbell's coat pocket, matured into a seizure requiring reasonable suspicion or probable cause.
See United States v. Mancini,
