POINTE-À-PITRE, France: A woman who was caught carrying two kilos of cocaine in false hair braids has been sentenced to 18 months in jail in the French Caribbean territory of Guadeloupe, a regional customs official said on Friday.
Regional customs director Olivier Fouque said the 24-year-old Guyana woman was caught at an airport in March.
The cocaine was in “tubes hidden in false braids,” said the official further. The woman was jailed for 18 months and slapped a fine of 30,000 euros, he added without giving more details.
Fouque cited the woman case as an example of how new ways were being used to get drugs into France’s Caribbean islands after the tougher airport checks regime.
In 2023, there were 47 cases of people being arrested for carrying cocaine and other drugs in their stomachs, the official said. This year, there have been “one or two”, he added.
France introduced tougher checks on flights in Guyana in 2022 and the strategy was extended to Martinique and Guadeloupe in March this year.
Fouque said at least 30 “suspect” people had been turned away from flights at France’s Caribbean airports in 2024.
