A woman, who was trying to smuggle two suitcases made of
cocaine, was arrested at an airport in China, authorities have said.
The woman and her suitcase came under suspicion when a
young security official was not able to carry the unusually heavy suitcase at
Shanghai Pudong International Airport. The airport officials then X-rayed the
luggage and found out that it was darker in colour than a normal suitcase and
that it was made of more than 10kg (22lb) of cocaine.
Cocaine was
allegedly mixed into the suitcases using an injection molding
technique – a manufacturing process for producing parts by injecting material
into a mold, the Shanghai Daily quoted authorities as saying.
The Southeast Asian woman, who was travelling from an
undisclosed South American country, was taken into custody.
According to reports, the incident happened
in February but came to light only on Tuesday, 6 June, ahead of International
Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking on 26 June.
Cocaine is a relatively rare drug in China
and according to the country's law, anyone found guilty of trafficking more
than 50g of cocaine will be executed.
A number of foreigners have been awarded
death sentence following drug dealing convictions since 2000. Recently in
February, a retired journalist was hanged to death as he tried to smuggle
almost 4Kg of cocaine into the China at Guangzhou Airport in 2010.
Also, a British citizen named Akmal Shaikh
faced execution in 2009 for possessing 4kg of heroin.
The latest incident is the first case of its
kind in China, where a person tried to smuggle a suitcase made out of cocaine
into the country.
But in Australia a similar kind of incident
happened recently, where a German couple was allegedly attempting to smuggle
four kilograms of cocaine through Sydney Airport in
the lining of their suitcases.
The duo – Sami Trabelsi and Snjezana Stein –
had flown over 16,000km from the German city of Dusseldorf on a 20-hour flight
to Australia, which is considered a profitable market for cocaine.
It is said that in Sydney, a gram of the drug can sell
for as much as $300 (£231).
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