They planned to stay in the Dominican Republic for just a week, but it may be years before three GTA women return home after they were arrested for allegedly trying to smuggle 18 kilograms of cocaine onto a Toronto-bound flight Monday night.
Violet Teresa Pluas, a 38-year-old North York mother of two, Daniela Maria Pea Ruggiero and Carla Lopes, both 29, could spend up to a decade behind bars if convicted of drug smuggling charges, said Capt. Victor Almonte of the Dominican?s National Drugs Control Agency.
?For us, drugs is a really, really big crime,? he said.
The women, all Canadian citizens, are employees of Etobicoke-based publisher Trader Corporation. They were expected back at work earlier this week.
The three friends had just spent a week in the Dominican Republic and were travelling on a minibus toward Punta Cana International Airport.
The bus was then stopped and searched by police.
Almonte said police found a total of 18.49 kilograms of cocaine stashed in hundreds of plastic capsules hidden in ?tummy tuck? underwear. The cocaine has a street value of more than $600,000 in Canada.
Police arrested the women and four other Dominican passengers on the bus who are also alleged to be involved in the smuggling operation.
Almonte said the women were likely taken to a prison in Santo Domingo, the country?s capital. He could not confirm their exact location.
Almonte refused to say what prompted the police search Monday night, but Dominican Today reported that police suspected the women were ?alleged tourists? involved in a drug ring because they had travelled to the Dominican several times in the last year.
Pluas? teenage daughter Carla, reached at the family?s North York home Wednesday, told the Star she had spoken with her mother over the phone Sunday night.
Everything sounded fine, Carla said.
But Pluas failed to return home and the family later received a phone call saying she had been arrested.
?I?m in shock,? said Carla, a Grade 11 student, adding she had never known her mother to be in trouble.
Pluas declared bankruptcy last June, but little else is known.
As for her co-accused, Ruggiero and Lopes graduated together from Toronto?s Bloor Collegiate Institute over a decade ago.
They worked together as telephone interviewers at Goldfarb Consultants before moving on to administration positions at Trader Corporation.
Canada?s Department of Foreign Affairs is aware that three Canadian citizens were arrested Monday and consular officials in Punta Cana will provide them with assistance, said spokesperson Jean-Fran?ois Lacelle.
Almonte said the three women are scheduled to appear before a Dominican Republic judge on Feb. 20. They will remain behind bars, nearly 3,000 kilometres from home, until then.
For now, the story of how the Canadian women wound up in jail accused of stuffing their underwear with hundreds of cocaine capsules remains a mystery.
Carla said she hoped her mother would return home soon.
Toronto News: GTA women charged with cocaine smuggling behind bars in Dominican Republic - thestar.com
Violet Teresa Pluas, a 38-year-old North York mother of two, Daniela Maria Pea Ruggiero and Carla Lopes, both 29, could spend up to a decade behind bars if convicted of drug smuggling charges, said Capt. Victor Almonte of the Dominican?s National Drugs Control Agency.
?For us, drugs is a really, really big crime,? he said.
The women, all Canadian citizens, are employees of Etobicoke-based publisher Trader Corporation. They were expected back at work earlier this week.
The three friends had just spent a week in the Dominican Republic and were travelling on a minibus toward Punta Cana International Airport.
The bus was then stopped and searched by police.
Almonte said police found a total of 18.49 kilograms of cocaine stashed in hundreds of plastic capsules hidden in ?tummy tuck? underwear. The cocaine has a street value of more than $600,000 in Canada.
Police arrested the women and four other Dominican passengers on the bus who are also alleged to be involved in the smuggling operation.
Almonte said the women were likely taken to a prison in Santo Domingo, the country?s capital. He could not confirm their exact location.
Almonte refused to say what prompted the police search Monday night, but Dominican Today reported that police suspected the women were ?alleged tourists? involved in a drug ring because they had travelled to the Dominican several times in the last year.
Pluas? teenage daughter Carla, reached at the family?s North York home Wednesday, told the Star she had spoken with her mother over the phone Sunday night.
Everything sounded fine, Carla said.
But Pluas failed to return home and the family later received a phone call saying she had been arrested.
?I?m in shock,? said Carla, a Grade 11 student, adding she had never known her mother to be in trouble.
Pluas declared bankruptcy last June, but little else is known.
As for her co-accused, Ruggiero and Lopes graduated together from Toronto?s Bloor Collegiate Institute over a decade ago.
They worked together as telephone interviewers at Goldfarb Consultants before moving on to administration positions at Trader Corporation.
Canada?s Department of Foreign Affairs is aware that three Canadian citizens were arrested Monday and consular officials in Punta Cana will provide them with assistance, said spokesperson Jean-Fran?ois Lacelle.
Almonte said the three women are scheduled to appear before a Dominican Republic judge on Feb. 20. They will remain behind bars, nearly 3,000 kilometres from home, until then.
For now, the story of how the Canadian women wound up in jail accused of stuffing their underwear with hundreds of cocaine capsules remains a mystery.
Carla said she hoped her mother would return home soon.
Toronto News: GTA women charged with cocaine smuggling behind bars in Dominican Republic - thestar.com
