Drug smuggling diplomat jailed

LONDON, Aug 2 (KUNA) -- An Ethiopian Embassy official who attempted to claim diplomatic immunity after trying to smuggle cannabis into the UK has been jailed, virtue of a court ruling Thursday.
Mother-of-two Amelework Wondemagegne, a diplomat based in Washington DC, was stopped at Heathrow Airport carrying three suitcases containing 56 kilograms (123lb) of herbal cannabis with a street value of 160,000 pounds, Isleworth Crown Court in west London was told.
The 36-year-old initially said a man had given her the bags before she departed from Addis Ababa airport, and she then tried to claim diplomatic immunity.
The court found she was not entitled to it and she was jailed for 33 months after admitting one count of drugs smuggling today.
Judge Richard McGregor-Johnson, of Kensington and Chelsea, said "The fact that you smuggled these drugs in the expectation that you would not be prosecuted if you were caught because of your diplomatic status is a significant factor in this case." The diplomat, who had worked in the visa section of the embassy since 2006, travelled into the UK on April 7 using an Ethiopian diplomatic passport and had a ticket to return to the US on April 17.
When her suitcases were opened by UK Border Agency officers at Heathrow's Terminal Three, they were found to be full of slabs of cannabis that had been sprinkled with chilli powder.
Wondemagegne had claimed she did not know what was in the suitcases, but that she believed it was meat and spices.
But photographs taken on her camera showed her with the bags.
One depicted her wearing a necklace which was later found to be in a suitcase with the drugs.
Judge McGregor-Johnson said Wondemagegne had told "a pack of lies" and that she was caught with a "substantial quantity" of cannabis, in the second category of seriousness. The judge described her as being "worldly wise", adding, "You knew perfectly well what you were doing and you knew perfectly well that drugs smuggling is illegally and seriously regarded." Wondemagegne's two children, aged 10 and 17, live in Washington DC and are being cared for by Ethiopian Embassy staff there.
She has been their sole carer since her husband died of cancer in 2005.
Of the fact, Judge McGregor-Johnson said "It makes it more extraordinary you should have committed this offence." He told the court he was satisfied she had not been coerced into being a drugs courier and that she had played a "significant role" in the smuggling of the cannabis. Wondemagegne will be deported from the UK after serving her sentence.
Peter Avery, of Border Force, said that "This was a significant amount of cannabis which could have ended up on the streets of the UK.
"It was the vigilance of Border Force officers which prevented this smuggling attempt from going ahead.
"Working with our law enforcement colleagues in the UK and around the world, we are determined to do all we can to stop the international drugs trade." The woman cannot enjoy diplomatic immunity here because she is not accredited in the UK.(end) he.wsa KUNA 021657 Aug 12NNNN