Chinese court jails Colombian Miss World hopeful for 15 years for smuggling drugs
Juliana
Lopez Sarrazola, 22, could have faced death sentence after being caught
with 610 grams of cocaine hidden in laptop at Guangzhou airport last
July
PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 26 July, 2016, 12:34pm
UPDATED : Tuesday, 26 July, 2016, 8:18pm
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A Colombian model hoping to take part in the
Miss World beauty contest in China has been jailed for 15 years after
she was found guilty of smuggling drugs into China.
Juliana Lopez Sarrazola, 22, who could have
faced the death penalty or a life sentence, will also be expelled from
China after completing her jail term, the People’s Intermediate Court of
Guangzhou in Guangdong province ruled on Monday, the Nanfang Daily reported.
She was caught trying to smuggle 610 grams of
cocaine hidden inside a laptop at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport
during a visit to China on July 18 last year.
Sarrazola, the winner of the Miss Antioquia
beauty contest in Colombia, had been hoping to win the Miss World
Colombia contest in July and then compete in the Miss World 2015 finals
in Sanya, China, last December.
News that she had gone missing in China and
could face the death penalty after being caught with drugs last July
sparked huge media interest around the world.
“I wanted to attend the Miss World beauty
contest in 2015,” Sarrazola, who admitted smuggling drugs, reportedly
told the court. “It takes quite some money to pay for the travel and
hotels.”
I wanted to attend the Miss World contest in 2015... It takes quite some money to pay for the travel and hotels
She had reportedly needed to borrow money from a
man identified in court with the name, Sergio, who would give her
US$2,500 only if she agreed to help him smuggle the drugs, the report
said.
Sarrazola could have faced the death penalty or
been sentenced to life imprisonment because of the quantity of drugs she
had been carrying, the court said in its verdict.
Her lawyer told the court that Sergio threatened
to kill Sarrazola’s family if she did not do as he asked. Sarrazola’s
lawyer quoted messages sent to her on her phone in court as evidence in a
plea for leniency.
The lawyer also argued that the money she was to
have received after transporting the drugs was only a tiny portion of
their value, which indicated she had only a marginal role in the drug
smuggling.
http://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/1994891/chinese-court-jails-colombian-miss-world-hopeful-15-years
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