Last year, Juliana Lopez Sarrazola, a Colombian model and potential
contender in the Miss World beauty contest, was caught trying to smuggle 610 grams of cocaine into Guangzhou. At the time, the case received widespread media attention and sparked a debate about China’s notorious punishment for drug crimes: the death penalty.
Fortunately for her, in the end, Sarrazola did not receive the
harshest possible punishment or life imprisonment. Instead, the People’s
Intermediate Court of Guangzhou sentenced her to 15 years in prison. On
top of that, she has to pay a 20,000 RMB fine and is required to leave
China right after serving her time, Sina reports.
During the case, Sarrazola explained her side of the story:
I
wanted to compete in the Miss World beauty contest. A Colombian drug
dealer named Sergio agreed to give me money if I brought a computer
filled with drugs into Guangzhou and gave it to his friend, who would
give me 2500 USD (16690 RMB). Accommodations and plane tickets are
expensive, but he would pay for all that. The 776 USD (5180 RMB) in my
luggage was from him.
Her lawyer supplemented her case by adding that Sergio threatened to kill Sarrazola’s family if she didn’t comply, SCMP reports. The court agreed that the money she would gain is minuscule compared to the amount of drugs she was smuggling.