Belgian media reported that a 22-year-old woman from Anderlecht was arrested at Brussels Airport in late July with two suitcases containing around 51 kilograms of cocaine.
Airport staff and police intercepted the luggage in the baggage hall on July 31 and made the arrest, officials said.
The bags were sent from Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone to Brussels via Guinea. The woman was not a passenger on the flight which brought the suitcases into the country, investigators said. But instead, she is reported to have bought a cheap ticket to enter the airport to collect her luggage. Officials say her alleged role was that of an “extractor” someone hired by traffickers to collect unaccompanied suitcases from the reclaim area and take them out of the terminal.
The suspect was already known to law enforcement for previous drug-related offences, VRT NWS and Het Laatste Nieuws reported. Following her arrest, a pre-trial chamber ordered her to remain in custody with electronic monitoring and fitted her with an ankle bracelet. Belgian authorities have warned of a rise in the so-called “ghost passenger” method.
This trafficking method involves putting suitcases with illegal drugs on flights without a passenger accompanying them. When they land, an extractor typically purchases a cheap or last-minute ticket and enters the baggage hall, where they retrieve the luggage. The method is increasingly being used on routes originating in West Africa, officials say, as criminal networks try to evade the tighter controls applied to direct flights from South America. The case refocuses attention on continuing concerns about new smuggling techniques and airport security vulnerabilities.****
