Drug smugglers using pregnant women as mules
05.09.11
Pregnant women are being used by drug gangs to smuggle drugs in to the UK via Gatwick. Two mums-to-be have been arrested and cocaine worth £90,000 recovered at the airport in the last few weeks.
In the latest incident, a woman who was five months pregnant was stopped as she got off a flight from Trinidad with her two-year-old daughter last week. The woman had swallowed 40 packages. She was arrested and charged with importing 750g of cocaine with a street value of £40,000. Her daughter is now in care.
The incident came a few weeks after a 20-year-old pregnant woman from Lithuania was stopped after a tip-off to customs officers at Gatwick. She had swallowed more than 100 packets of cocaine worth more than £50,000.
A UK Border Agency spokesman said: ‘It is tragic these women feel there is no other way than to resort to smuggling drugs in such a dangerous manner. Not only are they risking jail they are putting their unborn child’s life at risk as well as their own. Hard drugs make money, it’s as simple as that. And these vulnerable young mums are willing to put their lives on the line to cash in.’
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