Cassandra Sainsburys last-minute plane ticket purchase in HK was red flag, US agents tipped off Col

[Judi Lynn]

By Anne Lu @chelean on May 03 2017 1:35 PM


Cassandra Sainsbury was arrested after the US Drug Enforcement Agency tipped off Colombian authorities of a possible drugs smuggling. The 22-year-old Australian’s last-minute plane ticket purchase in Hong Kong was apparently a red flag.

The Australian reports that US authorities thought the Adelaide personal trainer’s plane ticket from Australia to Colombia via London, which was thought to be an eleventh hour purchase by an unknown party for her, was suspicious so they alerted their Colombian counterparts. Bogota was the final leg of her journey. She had also been in China and Los Angeles days before her arrest.

She arrived in the South American country on April 3 and had been arrested on April 12 at the El Dorado International Airport in Bogota. According to Channel Seven, her passport details had been forwarded to authorities as early as April 5. She was denied bail and remains at the El Buen Pastor women’s prison.

Sainsbury was found to have 5.8kg of cocaine in her bag. Her family claims the drugs were hidden inside the 18 boxes of headphones she bought from a man acting as her translator in the country. Her family said she apparently was “naïve” in the sense that she did not check the headphones before packing them in her suitcase.

More:
http://www.ibtimes.com.au/cassandra-sainsburys-last-minute-plane-ticket-purchase-hk-was-red-flag-us-agents-tipped-colombia