The head of a Colombian police department says law enforcement received a tip-off about an Australian accused drug smuggler days before her arrest.
22-year-old Adelaide woman Cassandra Sainsbury is accused of attempting to smuggle 5.8 kg of cocaine out of Colombia at El Dorado International airport on April 11.
Speaking to SBS Spanish, Colonel Jorge Mendoza, Director of Ports and Airports with the Colombian drug enforcement police department, says they received a passenger alert which included Ms Sainsbury's personal details, days before she was arrested.
"…In the particular case of Cassandra we received information on April 5th where they [international security agencies] warned us about a passenger. They gave us her name, her passport number, her nationality and even her picture. We were verifying her details at the airports from that day but she didn’t appear in any flight at any Colombian airport. So we continued with the search until the 12th of April when we found that the passenger was leaving in a flight to London."
Colonel Mendoza also added that Ms Sainsbury's air ticket was bought in Hong Kong in suspicious circumstances.
"We found that the air ticket had been bought at a Travel agency in Hong Kong and the payment was made in cash just few hours prior to the flight."
Ms Sainsbury was arrested after authorities found 18 different packages of cocaine allegedly hidden within headphone boxes inside her suitcase.
Ms Sainsbury's fiancee Scott Broadbridge says she is and was not deliberately taking drugs or carrying drugs.
She told her family that she thought the packages she was carrying were headphones, bought as gifts from a person she .
If found guilty of drug trafficking, she faces a prison term of up to 20 years.
Her Colombia-based lawyer Orlando Herran said she could have her case ruled on in 90 days if she admits to a level of complicity.
The El Buen Pastor Women's prison in Bogota where Ms Sainsbury is being held is overcrowded and there are concerns about her physical and mental health.
Her lawyer declared that she was "much traumatized" and that she was about to get professional help from counselors and psychologists.
Spanish Description:
Cassandra Sainsbury, de 22 años de edad, está recluida en la prisión de mujeres de El Buen Pastor en Bogotá luego de ser detenida el 12 de abril en el aeropuerto internacional El Dorado por llevar 18 paquetes de cocaína con un peso aproximado de 6 kilogramos.
Conversamos con el jefe de Puertos y Aeropuertos de la Policia Nacional de Colombia, Jorge Mendoza, quien estuvo a cargo del operativo, y contó detalles sobre la captura de la australiana. ESCUCHA EL PODCAST.
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