81-year-old woman arrested in Poland with 5kg heroin in suitcase

A 81-year-old Danish woman traveling from Africa to Canada was arrested at Warsaw airport on suspicion of illegal possession of heroin worth over $515,000, officials in Poland said Friday.

Customs officers at Frederic Chopin Airport decided to check the woman's luggage on Sunday after becoming suspicious of her itinerary and her uneasy behaviour. Packages with 5 kilogrammes of heroin were discovered under a false suitcase bottom.

The woman, travelling from Malawi and Kenya through Warsaw, denied any wrongdoing and said family members had given her the suitcase with gifts for relatives in Canada, according to Aleksandra Skrzyniarz, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor's office in Warsaw.

Danish woman is placed in handcuffs after being arrested at Frederic Chopin Airport in Warsaw. AP

She was detained for three months and prosecutors have opened an investigation. Under Polish law, she faces up to 15 years in prison for illegal possession of narcotics.

Denmark officials confirmed that a Danish citizen was detained in Poland and said the ministry is "providing consular assistance.”

Associated Press