A 19-year-old Greek model was arrested at the Hong Kong international airport carrying 2.6kg cocaine worth HK$2.4million ($300,000, €310,00). She faces life sentence. The local community on the island of Lesvos is shocked as the young woman is the daughter of a respected policeman.
The woman arrived to Hong Kong on a flight coming from Ethiopia on Monday. She was randomly selected for a routine inspection at the airport.
Customs officers seized a 2.6kg pack of cocaine in a false compartment in the back-bag she was carrying.
The young woman is the fourth to be arrested by customs officers with the drug in the space of a week, local media report.
Customs officers picked up the other three women at the airport and seized more than HK$5 million worth of cocaine in three separate cases between Tuesday and Friday last week.
“We believe the [seized drugs] were for local consumption. It is possible drug dealers tried to stock up on illegal drugs ahead of festive season,” a source with the knowledge of the investigation said.
He said customs officers were still investigating whether the four women were recruited by the same drug trafficking syndicate to smuggle cocaine into Hong Kong.
According to thestandard.com.hk, no plea was entered at the court and the case was adjourned until February 14, 2018.
She was denied bail and remanded in custody.
Similar arrests in HK
In Hong Kong, the crime carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment and a HK$5 million fine under the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance.
Last Friday, a woman, 52, arrived Peru via the Netherlands was arrested at the airport after she was found to be carrying 2.5kg of cocaine packed into 180 condoms inside her body.
On the previous day,a woman, 24, arrived from Tanzania via Ethiopia was arrested at the airport after 2kg of cocaine worth HK$1.84 million was found in the false compartment of her luggage.
In a separate case on Tuesday last week, customs officers at the airport arrested a 48-year-old woman arrived from Tanzania via Ethiopia for carrying 1kg of cocaine in 70 packets inside her body.
The source said traffickers used different concealment methods and smuggling routes to avoid detection.
Daughter of policeman in Lesvos
Greek and local media quote her father, a policeman on the island of Lesvoswho is convinced that his daughter “had fallen victim to the drug dealers’ mafia who took advantage of her dream for a career in modelling.”
Media publish the name of the arrested model and distorted pictures.
![Αυτή είναι η 19χρονη που συνελήφθη στο Χονγκ Κονγκ με ναρκωτικά [εικόνες]](https://www.iefimerida.gr/sites/default/files/styles/708x320/public/lesvos-kongk1-708.jpg?itok=z4D8HO8E)
The local community speaks of “a very quite girl, the daughter of one of the most consistent and honest policemen” on the island “who is shocked and tries to find ways to rescue his child from the tentacles of the mafia.”
“It was perhaps Irene’s dream to make a successful career in modeling and the mafia took advantage of it,” speculates lesvosnews.gr speculates adding that “she was most likely not aware of what she was carrying.” The local community and the media are convinced that the arrested model is innocent and ask “can a girl at this tender age be a member of a criminal organization?”
Greek Epsilon TV reported that the drugs were supposed to land in Greece with another flight and for local consumption. Friends of the family on Lesvos said that the young woman was working at a petrol station on the island and that she moved a couple of months ago to Kalamata in Southern Peloponnese for studies.
Also the friends are convinced that she is a victim.
The family reportedly did not know that she was abroad, it didn’t even know she was arrested.
It looks as if the young woman does not know her rights and she did not even ask the assistance of the Greek Consultate in Hong Kong.
PS Lesvos – Kalamata-[Athens]-Ethiopia-Hong Kong is a very long way for a 19-year-old whether a model or a student.
KTG, the ads and your side panels are blocking your text!
oh they do? thank you. can you elaborate, pls?
Text of the article continues underneath the ads (the text goes outside it’s normal borders/boundaries)
Posting with Chrome
The P.S. of the article reads;”PS Lesvos – Kalamatha -[Athens] – Etheopia – HongKong is a very long way for a 19-year-old wether a model (and the rest of the text disappears under the videos on the right (Tough guys on flip flops & Sea freezes in Greece).
The rest of the article suffers from the same boundary issue.
there seems to be a tech problem on some pcs. sorry. will try to fix it.
Yes, I have the same here. I’m using Waterfox, but it’s happened before a couple of times with Firefox. The comments are staying within the text boundaries, but the main text stretches out to the edge of the screen, almost, and underneath all the stuff in the sidebar, so it is obscured.
I occasionally have the problem with other websites since the upgrade of the new Firefox.