Fake nuns arrested for trying to smuggle cocaine through airport

Three women have been arrested for allegedly trying to smuggle drugs through an airport dressed as nuns. The smugglers were stopped as they arrived at a popular Colombian holiday destination, because police thought that their outfits did not look real. Officers found that each of the women had more than 4lb of cocaine strapped to her legs.

Adding insult to injury, the smugglers were paraded in front of cameras still dressed in their bizarre disguise. The three women, aged 20, 32 and 37, had landed on the island of San Andres on a flight from Bogota on Saturday morning. Police captain Oscar Davila said the women appeared to be nervous, and added that the fabric of their habits did not look right. When the fake nuns were stopped and searched, they were found to have a huge haul of cocaine strapped to their bodies. All three burst into tears and insisted they had only taken to smuggling because of their financial problems, Mr Davila said.

The women were arrested and jailed on charges of drug trafficking. The drugs had an estimated street value of around $35,000 (£23,000), according to local police commissioner Jorge Gomez. 'They weren't really religious, they weren't nuns,' he said. 'On the contrary, they were taking advantage of this situation.' San Andres, located in the Caribbean off the coast of Nicaragua, is one of Colombia's most popular resorts for residents and tourists. However, it is also located on a major drug-smuggling route for transporting cocaine between mainland Colombia and Central America.