Germany catches woman smuggling cocaine in breast implants

BERLIN A 24-year-old Colombian woman was arrested at Frankfurt airport after she was found to be carrying 1 kg (2.2 pounds) of cocaine inside her breasts, German customs officials said on Wednesday.

Airport officials became suspicious after they found fresh operation scars below the woman's breasts during a search on Feb. 24 and she complained of severe pain.

The woman admitted to carrying drugs, which had been inserted into her body during a hastily arranged operation.

She was sent to a local hospital where doctors removed two 500-gram lumps of cocaine wrapped in plastic from each of her breasts.

The drugs have a market value of 200,000 euros ($220,000) and were destined for Spain, a customs spokesman said.

"This is the first case in Germany in which drugs have been smuggled in this fashion," said spokesman Hans-Juergen Schmidt.

Customs agents were shocked by what they said was the amateurish surgery. Schmidt said it showed how drugs smugglers "are completely indifferent to human life and the life-threatening conditions of their drug carriers."

The woman, who said she has three children in Colombia where she worked in agriculture, will be charged with drug trafficking and faces jail time. ($1 = 0.9123 euros)

(Reporting by Tina Bellon; Editing by Joseph Nasr and Robin Pomeroy)