PARIS (AFP) – French authorities were holding two Brazilian women in custody over drug smuggling charges after a fellow countrywomen was found dead in a Paris hotel at the weekend, judicial sources said.
The women, who were detained after the suspected murder, were charged on Thursday after they told investigators that they and the victim had acted as mules to bring drugs to France, sources close to the case said.
The main suspect in the murder case, a man linked to the same drug trafficking network, is still on the run, the sources said.
According to a police source, the man had checked in to the hotel with the victim.
She was found with a “deep wound to the carotid artery” in the neck last Saturday after staying at the hotel in northwest Paris for around a week, the source has said.
The two other women, aged 27 and 37, were arrested on Sunday as they tried to fly out of the country, two sources close to the case said.
On Thursday evening, the women told a judge it was the first time they had acted as drug mules.
“I have three children and a mother who has cancer. Rain destroyed my home in December and I have debts,” the 27-year-old said.
The 37-year-old apologised, saying she owed money to someone who had “threatened” her.
A prosecutor argued they should be temporarily detained because of the risk of reprisals from “very dangerous people” in the drug ring.
