Amelework Wondemagegne, a 36-year-old official in the visa section of the Ethiopian embassy in Washington DC, was stopped at Heathrow Airport’s Terminal Three on 7 April 2012 after arriving from Addis Ababa with three suitcases holding 56 kilograms of cannabis in slabs sprinkled with chilli powder, worth an estimated £160,000.[1][2] She first claimed a man had given her the bags and that she believed they held meat and spices, but photographs on her camera showed her posing with them.[2]
She tried to claim diplomatic immunity, but Isleworth Crown Court in west London found the 36-year-old mother of two was not entitled to it.[1][2] On 2 August 2012 she was jailed for 33 months after admitting one count of drug smuggling.[1][2] Judge Richard McGregor-Johnson said she had told “a pack of lies”, knew perfectly well what she was doing, and had smuggled the drugs expecting her diplomatic status to shield her.[1][2] She was expected to be deported from Britain after serving her sentence.[1]
