Warsaw, Poland –
An 81-year-old Danish woman traveling from Africa to Canada has been arrested at Warsaw airport on suspicion of illegal possession of heroin worth more than $515,000, Polish officials said on Friday.
Customs officers at Frederic Chopin Airport decided to screen the woman’s luggage on Sunday after becoming suspicious of her itinerary and her uneasy demeanor. Packages containing 5 kilograms (11 pounds) of heroin were discovered under a false bottom of a suitcase.
The woman, traveling from Malawi and Kenya via Doha and Warsaw, denied any wrongdoing and said family members gave her the suitcase with gifts for relatives in Canada, according to Aleksandra Skrzyniarz, spokeswoman for the prosecutor’s office in Warsaw.
She was detained for three months and prosecutors opened an investigation. According to Polish law, she faces up to 15 years in prison for illegal possession of narcotics.
Danish officials confirmed that a Danish citizen was being held in Poland and said the ministry was “providing consular assistance”.