A British mother-of-two has been arrested in Mauritius for ‘trying to smuggle cannabis’ inside her six-year-old son’s suitcase
Natashia Artug, 35, was detained alongside seven other people accused of carrying more than 161 kilograms of the drvg – worth £1.6 million – in their luggage.
The boy’s luggage alone is said to have had 24 packages of drvgs wrapped in clear cellophane inside weighing 14kg.
Natashia from Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, who is ‘vulnerable’, was coerced into travelling to Mauritius by people involved in the drvg trade who threatened her and her family, Justice Abroad has said.
She also did not know the bags contained cannabis, the nonprofit added.
Natashia’s partner Florian Lisman, a 38-year-old Romanian, was also arrested and said to be carrying 32 drvg packages, an iPhone and £260 pounds.
The other Brits detained were Patrick Lee Wilsdon, 22, Lily Watson, 20, Shannon Ellen Josie Holness 29, Laura Amy Kappen 28, and Shona Campbell, 32, who each had between 30 and 32 packages, according to local newspaper Le Mauricien.
They were all on the same British Airways flight from London Gatwick to Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam airport last month. The suspects have all been charged with drvg trafficking and remain in custody.
Each suspect carried Apple AirTags, which can be fixed to an item to track its location, and up to £900 in cash.
The trackers – around the size of a 50p piece – are thought to be used by international drug trafficking gangs to help smugglers keep tabs on their shipments.
Mauritian authorities described the use of the child’s luggage to transport the drvgs as ‘outrageous and inhumane’, adding ‘this is one of the most revolting cases we have encountered in recent years’.
The boy, who was unaware of the contents of his bag, has reportedly already flown back to the UK and is staying with his father.
Justice Abroad has launched a Crowd Justice fundraising campaign to raise £5,000 towards her legal defence.
The organisers write: ‘Natashia is a single mother of two, who suffers from Fibromyalgia but who attends university and is working to give her children a better future.
She was coerced into travelling to Mauritius with her young son, and to carry the luggage which she did not know contained cannabis, by individuals involved in the drvgs trade who took advantage of her vulnerability and made thr8ats to cause serious violence to her and her family if she refused to obey their orders.
A Foreign Office spokesman told MailOnline: ‘We are supporting a British national detained in Mauritius and are in contact with the local authorities.’
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