A Guatemalan woman has been busted by customs officers in Yerevan’s Zvartnots airport in an attempt to smuggle nearly 3,5kg of cocaine.
The State Revenue Service customs department said that the women, identified as Ernandez Agilar Ondina Liset, a citizen of Guatemala, carried four metallic boxes in her luggage which contained the cocaine. She arrived via a Dubai-Yerevan flight.
Police lab tests have confirmed that the substance is cocaine.
Criminal proceedings have been launched.
Agents revealed that the woman has transported the drugs from Sao Paulo, Brazil. The smuggler had planned to carry out an exchange of the cocaine during a rendezvous in a rented hotel room in Yerevan with an accomplice she didn’t meet before.
Law enforcement revealed the accomplice to be a Kazakh citizen, who was detained on October 3. Citizen of Kazakhstan Yelena Koltisheva arrived to Armenia on a flight from Turkey on the same day to accept the package and transport it back to Turkey.
Authorities said that the investigation continues to reveal other accomplices and the client who ordered the package.