The trial of a former Colombian beauty queen, charged with masterminding a smuggling operation using models as drug “mules,” began in Argentina on Tuesday.
Angie Sanclemente Valenica will stand trial alongside her boyfriend Argentine model Nicolas Gualco, his uncle and three others on charges of attempted drug smuggling.
Authorities arrested the former Miss Coffee Colombia, alias “Diamante” and “Pepo” in May 2010 after a two month international manhunt.
She stands accused of recruiting “mules”, to carry cocaine on flights from Latin America to Europe. According to the allegations, she searched out beautiful young women who would be less likely to appear suspect to customs officials.
The case against Sanclemente began with a 2009 drugs bust, when a 21-year-old woman tried to board a plane in Mexico with 121 pounds of cocaine.
Sanclemente’s lawyer German Delgado said before the trial, “They haven’t proved that she was a part of the gang. There is no evidence against Angie,” El Espectador reported.
