Jeanne Paolini and Kátyna Baía, inset, were arrested after airport staff put their luggage labels on cases of drugs (Main picture: TV Globo)
A couple spent 38 days in a German prison after airport staff in Brazil put their luggage tags on suitcases filled with cocaine.
Kátyna Baía, 44, and Jeanne Paolini, 40 were arrested on suspicion of international drug trafficking shortly after landing at Frankfurt Airport.
The Brazilian pair had flown from São Paulo International Airport and upon arrival police found suitcases with their luggage tags attached containing 43kg of cocaine – worth around £374,000 in street value.
An investigation by Brazilian police later revealed the women had fallen victim to an international gang who were putting innocent travellers’ luggage tags on bags of drugs.
Two female ‘passengers’ and two airport staff were caught on CCTV camera atSão Paulo airport carrying out the operation.
The fake passengers arrive with the cocaine bags and a staff member checks them in without checking any documents.
Later airport staff are seen taking Kátyna and Jeanne’s checked-in bags off the carousel, removing their labels and attaching them to the drugs bags.
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Kátyna and Jeanne ended up spending 38 days in jail before they were eventually freed and allowed to return home, according to The Sun.
‘This entire experience was an enormous shock for both of us and our families,’ Jeanne said.
The pair had planned a 20-day trip to Europe, starting their journey with a domestic flight from their hometown of Goiânia in Brazil to São Paulo.
They then transferred to an international flight to Frankfurt at São Paulo and were due to take another flight to their final destination, Berlin when Jeanne was approached by a plain-clothed officer.
(From left to right) Kátyna and Jeanne were sent to jail after being wrongfully accused of trying to smuggle cocaine into the country (Picture: Kátyna Baía)
‘I was taken to a windowless room, and as soon as I entered he asked me to put my hands on the wall and handcuffed me saying I was under arrest,’ she explained.
She said she asked why they were arresting her but as the officers were speaking German she only understood the word ‘cocaine’.
Jeanne, a vet, was then handcuffed and escorted through the airport before being reunited with Kátyna at an onsite police station.
She said it wasn’t until four hours later, when a translator turned up, that they understood what they were being accused of.
As well as their hands, officers cuffed their feet, and the women received the first of ‘countless’ strip searches, which Jeanne described as one of the most humiliating things she’s had to go through.
The police then bought in the suitcases with cocaine and the couple noticed straight away the bags weren’t theirs.
Airport staff in São Paulo were caught putting the women’s luggage tags on bags of drugs (TV Globo)
Despite explaining this and providing evidence such as bookings to show they were just on a holiday, the women were taken to a cell, where they spent 24 hours before their first hearing.
The pair were then taken to a women’s prison on the outskirts of Frankfurt where they spent the rest of their incarceration.
The women were released on April 11 this year, after a request was made by the German Prosecutor’s office.
Kátyna said the whole experience had had a huge impact on them both.
‘I still haven’t been able to completely resume my life because this emotional, psychological and spiritual wound is still very exposed’, she explained.
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