A drug mule has been jailed for 11 years after she admitted to importing two kilograms of cocaine worth more than €130,000 in November 2021.

Anuscha Arlette Halman, a 46-year-old from the Dutch Caribbean island of Curacao, admitted to the charges brought against her, thereby avoiding a trial. She was also fined €25,000.

She had been apprehended on November 22, 2021, after drugs were found on her person during searches carried out by members of the Drug Squad together with Customs officials at the airport.

Halman had just disembarked a Ryanair flight from Brussels at half past midnight. Two packets of cocaine were found strapped to her abdomen.

She was meant to face a trial for her involvement in a drug trafficking conspiracy, importing or taking steps to import cocaine, supplying or offering to distribute drugs as well as aggravated possession of cocaine in circumstances denoting that the drug was not intended solely for personal use.

Before Madam Justice Consuelo Scerri Herrera, the woman declared that she was guilty as charged.

In court, a Corradino Correctional Facility representative testified how Halman had been subjected to 21 urine tests during her time in preventive arrest and all resulted negative to drugs. She also behaved well while in jail.

In a pre-sentencing report compiled by a court-appointed expert, the court was told how Halman had a troubled childhood and had also been subjected to domestic violence at home. She had to leave her studies and also had to leave home at a tender age.

The court heard how she had eight children, all from different men. Most of her children are now adults and live in the Netherlands, with the exception of one who lives with her mother in Curacao. Her youngest three children live in Holland with her sister.

The court heard how while in preventive custody, she spent a long time in hospital where tests showed how she had a number of medical conditions and had also suffered a heart attack last May. A month later, she developed complications in her kidneys.

A court expert said the purity of the cocaine found was 44 per cent since it was mixed with a veterinary medication to treat worms.   

In submissions on punishment, the prosecution said that although Halman was admitting to the charges, this admission of guilty did not come early in the proceedings but only 17 months after they had started. It also pointed out that she had been to Malta three months before she was caught.

Madam Justice Scerri Herrera jailed her for 11 years and fined her €25,000 which are to be converted into an additional year in jail if not paid.