A Brazilian social media influencer and her fiancé’s friend have been charged with international drug trafficking after police caught them trying to board a flight from Sao Paulo to Dubai with cocaine-filled capsules in dietary supplement bottles.
Instagram influencer is charged after trying to board plane to Dubai with cocaine
Influencer Lais Crisostomo Aguiar and her 44-year-old friend, car washer Peterson de Souza Fontes, were charged with one count of international drug trafficking.
The couple was arrested at the Sao Paulo-Guarulhos International Airport, in the municipality of Guarulhos, on August 5.
Both will be tried by decision of the 1st Federal Court of Guarulhos, in the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo, reports G1.
Police prevented them from boarding the flight after an X-ray scan revealed 461 grams of cocaine in capsules inside food supplement containers in their suitcases.
The two have since been remanded in custody at a women’s prison in Sao Paulo and a provisional detention center in Guarulhos, respectively.
The Daily Mail reports that Judge Valdeci dos Santos denied Aguiar’s request to be released.
Santos said Aguiar’s argument that he “was not aware of the contents of the suitcase is not credible, given that the cocaine seized was hidden in a suitcase with [the suspect’s] personal effects.”
Fontes admitted in court that the huge amount of cocaine was his, and claimed that, like him, Aguiar and his fiancé, Henrique Catoriello, were consumers.
However, Aguiar said his claims were false.
The court concluded that “the amount of cocaine found in [Aguiar’s] possession cannot be qualified as consumption, so it is clear that the drug would be the object of circulation in society.”
The 27-year-old testified in court that she had been living in Dubai since 2020 and that her fiancé had a currency exchange business there.
The influencer has 386,000 followers on Instagram and is known for showcasing her luxurious lifestyle.
