Police Catch Woman with a Kilo of Cocaine in Her Beehive

A woman with U.S. citizenship was in garda custody yesterday after customs officers at Cork Airport found a kilo of cocaine with a street value of E70,000 hidden in her elaborate 'beehive' hairstyle.

The young woman was arrested shortly after 11am yesterday after customs officers found the cocaine concealed in black cotton packages within her hairdo.

The woman travelled on a flight from Lagos, Nigeria, to Amsterdam before connecting to Cork.

She was brought to Togher Garda Station on the southside of the city at 2pm for further questioning following the detection of the drugs. The American was being detained last night under the Drugs Trafficking Act and can be held in garda custody for seven days.

Garda sources said last night that the woman 'stood out a mile'.

A source close to the investigation told the Irish Daily Mail about the amazing hair-raising seizure at Cork Airport. 'Cus- toms and Excise officers were watching the people coming through from a flight.

'They noticed this woman with a large beehive hairstyle coming towards them.

'They stopped her and brought her to one side when they did a search they discovered that she had a quantity of drugs concealed in her hair.

'She just stood out a mile you couldn't ignore her.

'She was arrested and brought to Togher (Garda Station) she was questioned and admitted that she had the drugs on her.

'In the station the gardaI had to cut off all her hair to get at the drugs that were hidden in different places inside the beehive haircut.

'They found the packages inside it took nearly an hour to cut it all off.

It's unusual all right that's an understatement,' said the source.

The woman had told gardaI that she had directions to book into a hotel in Cork city centre. She was ordered to then call a phone number and wait for her contact to arrive.

GardaI believe that the cocaine was destined for a dealer located on the northside of the city possibly in the Blackpool area.

Earlier this month two men were arrested at Cork Airport after cocaine worth E100,000 was seized by customs officers. They have both been before the district court in connection with the drugs haul.

Customs officers have noted a marked increase in cocaine seizures at Ireland's airports over the past few years. About 40kg of cocaine was seized in 2004, compared with 53kg last year.

In recent years individuals have attempted to smuggle drugs into Ireland via false-bottomed suitcases. There has also been an increase in the number of people swallowing drugs, or smuggling them in chocolate packets or cosmetic containers.

Drugs with an estimated value of E5.5million were seized at Dublin, Cork and Shannon airports last year.

News stories provided by third parties are not edited by "Site Publication" staff. For suggestions and comments, please click the Contact link at the bottom of this page.