A drug smuggler who secreted nearly 100 pellets of cocaine into her body and her bra accidentally showed photos of the drugs to Border Patrol agents on her phone.
Mother-of-four Larissa Lins, 27, was stopped at Manchester Airport after flying into the country from Brazil on August 24 this year.
She claimed she had come to Britain to ‘explore beautiful places’ after previously flying through France and Portugal, Manchester Crown Court heard.
She denied bringing anything illegal into the country and voluntarily showed officers photos of her time in France.
However, as they scrolled, they came across a photo of the ‘white pellets’ and upon further investigation it turned out that Lins had ingested, excreted and hidden a kilo of the drug both internally and externally.
Larissa Lins, 27, denied bringing anything illegal into the country. She volunteered to show officers photos of her time in France.
Lins was arrested at Manchester Airport on August 24 this year after flying in from Brazil
After pleading guilty to fraudulently evading a ban on the import of a Class A drug, she was jailed on Thursday and told she will “almost inevitably” be returned to Brazil after losing 40 percent of her has served his sentence.
David Toal, prosecuting, said Lins had flown from Sao Paulo to Manchester via France and Portugal, with only a small pink hand luggage, the court heard.
Through a Portuguese interpreter, she was approached by border police officers, who said this was her first time visiting the country. She added that she had come to Britain to “walk around and explore nice places.”
Lins said she had packed her suitcase herself and had not brought anything illegally into Britain.
Mr Toal said: “She offered her phone to show the officers pictures she had taken in France and as she looked through the officers she saw images of white pellets, believed to be cocaine.
“The defendant was arrested and she told officers that pellets of cocaine had been inserted into her body since the previous day. She was taken to Wythenshawe Hospital where she passed all the internal pellets in stages.”
Officers conducted a further search for Lins and found more pellets hidden in the lining of her bra. A total of 99 pellets were seized with a total weight of 1.1 kilos with packaging and 923 grams without packaging.
The wholesale price for that amount of the Class A drug was estimated at around £30,000, and the street value was around £72,000, the court heard.
Lins was arrested and interviewed, during which she admitted that she swallowed 100 pellets before flying to France, and spent the next three days before returning them to someone else.
The day before she flew to Manchester, she admitted swallowing ten more and inserting more pellets internally, while her ‘cousin’ put a few more in her bra. She said she received the equivalent of £1,400 in Brazilian real. She was said to have no previous convictions in Britain or her native Brazil.
Laura Broome, mitigating, said her client was in a ‘state of sheer despair’. Ms Broome said: “That desperation was exploited. She tells me she was given instructions on how to swallow, hide and insert the pellets. If one of those burst she could have died.”
Lins, who was of no fixed abode, cried during the hearing and was jailed for three years at Manchester Crown Court
The judge, Patrick Field QC, said Lins was taking a risk with her safety and freedom which “highlighted her state of mind”.
Judge Field said: ‘It almost shows how little regard the people above her had for her safety.’
Ms Broome said the mother was genuinely remorseful and ‘desperate’ to return home, adding that Lins had been recruited through coercion, intimidation and control, and was ‘naive’ with ‘no influence’ over those above her in the chain.
Ms Broome said: “Once she realized the severity of the situation, she attempted to stop her further participation but was told she had no choice.”
Judge Field said: “This type of crime is regarded very seriously by these courts. There is no doubt that you were recruited to do this job and that you were recruited by organized criminals who were more sophisticated than you and completely unsympathetic to the risks you were facing. running, I have no doubt about that [that amount of money] was a significant amount of money for you.”
Lins, who had no fixed abode, cried during the hearing and was jailed for three years.
