BEIJING: A creative drug mule has forgone the traditional hidden suitcase compartment to smuggle cocaine through customs and instead used the drug itself to make her luggage. London’s Daily Telegraph said the south-east Asian woman was detained at a Chinese airport when it was discovered her suitcase was partly made from 10kg of cocaine.
State news reports said the alarm was raised when a security officer couldn’t carry the unusually heavy case, which turned a darker colour in images from the scanning machines. The woman had just arrived at Shanghai’s Pudong airport from South America.The Shanghai Daily News said the cocaine was allegedly mixed into the suitcase using an injection moulding technique.
Customs officials confirmed that cocaine was in the material of the suitcase after taking samples. Under Chinese law, anyone convicted of trafficking 50g of cocaine or more will be given a mandatory death sentence. A retired journalist was executed in February for trying to smuggle almost 4kg of cocaine into China at Guangzhou Airport in 2010. Chinese media said a dozen foreigners have been sentenced to death following drug dealing convictions since 2000. The woman who smuggled the suitcase was arrested in February, but the case was only disclosed by Chinese officials this week.
