Ariane Monteiro Aragão was detained at Maputo International Airport
MAPUTO, Feb 28 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A 24-year-old Brazilian woman has been sentenced to 17 years in prison in Mozambique for drug trafficking.
Ariane Monteiro Aragão was detained on June 26, 2019 at Maputo International Airport in possession of 5.4kg of cocaine. She had travelled from Brazil via Ethiopia.
On the day of her detention, Aragão said she had come to Mozambique as a tourist and knew nothing about the drugs.
But she admitted during her trial at a court in the capital, Maputo, that she was recruited in Brazil to carry the drugs to sell in Mozambique in exchange for about $2,500.
During her confession she also said that she was a drug user and apologised.
This did little to mitigate the length of her sentence.
Aragão is the second foreign citizen to be found guilty in Mozambique of trafficking cocaine this month.
A 66-year-old US citizen was sentenced to 18 years last week.
Last year, the UN office fighting drugs warned that Mozambique had become a corridor for high volumes of illicit substances. — NNN-AGENCIES
