A Spanish woman headed to Madrid was arrested at JuanSantamaríaInternationalAirport in Alajuela, northwest of San José, Saturday accused of carrying plastic bags filled with a solution of wine and cocaine in her luggage, according to a statement released Monday by the Public Security Ministry.
Police observed the woman, identified by the last name García, behaving nervously, and, upon inspecting her luggage, they found several bags of wine. After performing a simple lab test, they discovered that one of the bags contained about 5 kilograms of diluted cocaine and another contained about 4 kilograms of the drug.
This was the first recorded incidence of someone allegedly using wine to traffic drugs from Costa Rica, although there have been many cases of alleged drug traffickers using other liquids, including mayonnaise, whiskey, shampoo and cans of heart of palm, to hide drugs, said Public Security Ministry spokesman Jesús Ureña.