A 30-YEAR-old woman from Poland has been sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment after Limassol Criminal Court found her guilty of importing massive quantities of cocaine to Cyprus.

Monica Newman was arrested by police in early January when she arrived from Amsterdam via Brussels, carrying over 1.2kg of cocaine in her stomach.

Passing sentence, the Limassol Criminal Court Judge said that considering the seriousness of the case, the Court had decided to impose a heavy sanction, to act as a deterrent against drug crimes.

Newman had pleaded guilty and told the court that she was planning to sell the cocaine to a person in Cyprus for €3,300.

At the time of her arrest in early January, the Drug Squad deputy chief said he had never before come across someone who managed to swallow such a huge amount of small capsules – 110 in total – containing the substance.

Acting on a tip-off, officers had raided the suspect’s hotel room in Limassol one day after her arrival and found 706 grams of the class-A drug.