Courts / Dublin / Report

Woman hid €26k worth of cocaine in luggage and inside her body

Date
2024-07-04

Stage
Sentence

Primary locality
Dublin

County
Dublin

Summary

Chestin Hoogenboom, 37, a Dutch national, was jailed after admitting she smuggled more than €26,000 worth of cocaine into Dublin Airport. Customs officials stopped her at Terminal One when an X‑ray revealed an anomaly in her luggage, which contained €12,000 worth of cocaine. Gardaí questioned her and she was taken to Beaumont Hospital, where she removed an additional €14,000 worth of cocaine from inside her body. The total weight of cocaine removed from her luggage and her person was 0.38 kilograms. Hoogenboom pleaded guilty to possession of drugs for sale or supply on 9 November last year and was sentenced to 18 months in prison. She cooperated fully, made an early guilty plea, and has no prior convictions in this jurisdiction or abroad. The court noted she is studying law and judicial decision‑making and that she has mental health issues and two teenage children in the care of a friend.

Who, what, where, when and why

What: Report matter: Woman hid €26k worth of cocaine in luggage and inside her body. Procedural stage: sentence

When:

November 9 Incident
2024-07-04 Publication

Case subjects

Chestin Hoogenboom

Convicted Person

Outcome: Hoogenboom, a Dutch national, was sentenced to 18 months in prison after pleading guilty to possession of drugs for sale or supply at Dublin Airport on November 9 last year. Passing sentence today at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court, Judge Nolan said it was clear that Hoogenboom was at the lowest end of the ladder of this drug operation.