Colombian model accused of leading a drug-trafficking gang

A Colombian model accused of leading a drug-trafficking gang that persuaded pretty young women to smuggle cocaine to Mexico was arrested after evading Argentine police for five months.

Angie Sanclemente Valencia had been hiding out in Buenos Aires since December, when airport police caught a 21-year-old Argentine woman with 55 kilograms (121 pounds) of cocaine in her baggage boarding a flight to Cancun. That led to arrests of six other alleged gang members who allegedly fingered Colombia’s former “coffee queen” as a ringleader.
Argentina’s media quickly dubbed Sanclemente the “Narco Queen,” but two officials involved in the case told The Associated Press that her specific role in the smuggling organization has not been established.
The 30-year-old model was captured in a hostel for foreigners in an upscale neighborhood of Buenos Aires. Valencia declared her innocence on Facebook, where she posted pictures of Buenos Aires dated after Interpol issued a warrant for her arrest, and her mother arrived in the country weeks ago to help with her defense.

“She is no drug trafficker, nor is she the queen of cocaine,” her mother, Jeannette Valencia, declared after the arrest. “There are bad intentions — a plot against her. She will prove her innocence,” Valencia told reporters.
Judicial authorities already rejected a request for special treatment from her lawyer, Guillermo Tiscornia, who said Sanclemente had not turned herself in for fear that her looks would expose her to rape or other mistreatment in a common prison.
Sanclemente had “fear that they will rape her, that they will cut her face” in prison, her mother added.