(Jamaica Gleaner) A former Jamaican beauty pageant contestant was yesterday arrested after trying to smuggle seventy pounds of cocaine through security at the Los Angeles International Airport in California.
Thirty-two-year-old JetBlue flight attendant Marsha Gay Reynolds was reportedly pulled out for random screening by airport officials.
Officials say Reynolds appeared to be nervous as she went to the secondary screening area.
They say Reynolds then pulled out her cellular phone and made a call in a foreign language.
After that she reportedly dropped the two suitcases full of cocaine, flung off her heels and fled.
She reportedly boarded a flight to Queens, New York, where she has an apartment, then later turned herself in to federal authorities at the John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York.
Reynolds was charged with cocaine possession with intent to distribute.
She was the third-place winner of the 2008 Miss Jamaica World competition and runner-up in the 2007 Miss Jamaica Universe pageant.
She is also a past student of New York University where she was reportedly on the school’s track and field team.
The Los Angeles Airport Police say the cocaine found in Reynolds’ luggage is worth about US$3 million on the street and US$750,000 wholesale.
