A 24-year-old woman from Guyana who was caught carrying two kilos (4.4 pounds) of cocaine in false hair braids has been jailed for 18 months in the French Caribbean territory of Guadeloupe.
A regional customs official, Olivier Fouque who confirmed this on Friday said the woman was caught at an airport in March, said Olivier Fouque, regional customs director.
According to the official, the cocaine was in “tubes hidden in false braids,” the official said. The woman was jailed for 18 months and fined 30,000 euros.
Fouque pointed to the woman as an illustration of the novel methods employed to smuggle drugs into France’s Caribbean islands following the implementation of stricter airport screenings.
According to officials, last year saw 47 instances of individuals detained for transporting cocaine and other narcotics in their stomachs. However, the numbers have dwindled significantly this year, with only “one or two” cases reported thus far.
France enhanced its scrutiny of flights departing from Guyana in 2022 and subsequently expanded this measure to include Guadeloupe and Martinique in March.
Fouque noted that approximately 30 individuals deemed “suspicious” were denied boarding on flights at the Caribbean airports under French jurisdiction this year.
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