An air stewardess who was caught with cocaine in her pack has been jailed for five and a half years in the United Kingdom.
Chinwendu Uwakaonyenma Ogbonnaya, 29, was part of the cabin crew of Nigeria's flag flyer; Arik Air, that flew into London’s Heathrow airport on the 18th of December, 2011.
Searches of Ms Ogbonnaya’s luggage by the UK Border Agency officers at the airport’s crew clearance facility revealed that she was carrying a rucksack with a false back. Therein, the officers discovered packages of cocaine hidden behind the false backpack.
Further forensic tests revealed that the packages contained approximately two kilos of high purity cocaine, which if cut and sold on the UK streets would have had a value of around £250,000.
According to a press statement from the UK Embassy, “Ms Ogbonnaya claimed that she had been given the bag by a friend and that she was unaware it contained drugs.”
However, Ms Ogbonnaya later pleaded guilty during to importing a class A drug into the United Kingdom during her trial at Isleworth Crown Court in West London. She was sentenced to five and a half years in prison and also face deportation at the end of her sentence.
According to the Assistant director of the UK Border Agency’s Criminal and Financial Investigation Team; Pete Avery, “Ms Ogbonnaya sought to abuse her position as a crew member by bringing these drugs in. As a result she now faces a long time away from home and behind bars.”
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