Italian police officers arrested a Chinese woman at Rome’s international airport on Friday morning after more than five kilograms of cocaine concealed in Chinese fortune cooky packages were found in her luggage.
The discovery, Italian State Police detailed in an official statement, is the result of a broader joint operation between Rome’s police, the Italian Air Border Police Office, and public prosecutors from the city of Civitavecchia.
The operation resulted in the arrest of an unidentified 40 year-old Chinese woman at Rome’s Fiumicino Leonardo da Vinci International Airport. The woman was intercepted near a boarding gate as she attempted to board a flight to Taipei, Taiwan.
The Italian State Police explained that 127 gold-colored “Fortune Cookie” packages were found in the woman’s luggage.
A thorough inspection found that the packages, rather than containing the traditional Chinese cookies, instead concealed cellophane packages with about 40.7 grams of cocaine per package for a total of 5.17 kilograms of cocaine across all packages.
The officers accuse the woman of possessing drugs for the purpose of distribution. Footage of the seized “Fortune Cookie” packages was shared by the Italian State Police with local outlets.
The woman was taken into custody at the Civitavecchia Detention Center and placed at the disposal of local judicial authorities.
“Also seized from the luggage were seven tubes of toothpaste and three packages of coffee, likely used in an attempt to deceive canines units and evade security checks,” the Italian police stated.
Per the Italian police, the seized drugs would have fetched over 500,000 in illicit profits at Italian markets, and over a million euros in Eastern markets.
“For the sake of completeness, it should be noted that the investigative evidence described above pertains to the preliminary investigation phase and that, therefore, the suspect is presumed innocent until a final determination is made by an irrevocable conviction,” the Italian State Police noted.
In addition to the seized cocaine, SkyTG24 reports that two Mexican nationals were arrested at the Fiumicino Airport on Friday morning after Italian Financial Police and customs officials found over 17 kilograms of methamphetamine concealed in two suitcases checked by the two Mexican nationals.
The concealed drug was found after officials detected irregularities in the suitcases such as an unusually rigid structure and weight discrepancies. The drugs were ultimately found inside a false bottom.
The Mexican nationals had reportedly departed from Monterrey to Rome, with a stopover in Mexico City. Suspicious arose after the two Mexican nationals provided “evasive and contradictory answers” to Italian officials.