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Three years for smuggling ingested cocaine pellets through Dublin Airport
Summary
Beatriz Carvalho, 23, a Brazilian national with no fixed abode, was stopped at Dublin Airport on 17 November 2024 after travelling via Paris. Immigration officers suspected her because she travelled alone. When questioned, she admitted swallowing about 50–60 cocaine pellets and storing more in her body. She had €1,345 in cash and claimed she was paid the Brazilian equivalent of €2,000 to bring the drugs to Ireland. While at the airport, she passed seven pellets in a bathroom and later retrieved 30 from her body. A total of 110 pellets, worth €86,763, were recovered. Carvalho pleaded guilty to one count of importing drugs. She has no prior convictions in Brazil and was in custody since her arrest. Judge Orla Crowe sentenced her to three years' imprisonment, reduced from an initial six‑year sentence, taking mitigating factors such as her early admission and cooperation into account. The sentence was back‑dated to the date of her arrest.
Who, what, where, when and why
What: Report matter: Three years for smuggling ingested cocaine pellets through Dublin Airport. Charges or matters: one count of importing drugs to the country at Dublin Airport on November 17, 2024. Procedural stage: sentence
When:
- November 17 Incident
- November 17, 2024 Incident
- 2025-06-24 Publication
Case subjects
Defendant
Charges: one count of importing drugs to the country at Dublin Airport on November 17, 2024 (Admitted)
Plea: Guilty
Outcome: Handing down sentence today, Judge Orla Crowe said Carvalho had engaged in a "risky undertaking", both for herself personally and in terms of the damage drugs do to society. She backdated the sentence to when Carvalho went into custody last November.
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