Polish cabin crew in court over drug-smuggling

The District Prosecutor's Office in Warsaw has put forward evidence that at least 100,000 ecstasy tablets and 100 kg of cocaine were smuggled over a period of several years, stretching back to at least 2002.

Initially, the ecstasy tablets were packed into men's t-shirts, although the suspects apparently devised other methods, such as the use of belts with special compartments.

One t-shirt could apparently hold as many as 7000 tablets, and the deliveries were made chiefly to New York and Chicago.

The ruse emerged after criminals in the US decided to cooperate with the police, divulging information about the flight attendants.

Most of the eleven defendants are pleading guilty, meaning that the trial could be concluded swiftly.

It has been alleged that members of Warsaw's notorious 'Mokotów Gang' were behind the smuggling ring. The gang rose to prominence after another band of criminals, the so-called Pruszków Gang, was broken up by police in the mid-1990s. The Mokotów Gang has a history of drug-trafficking, armed robberies and money-laundering. A wave of arrests began in 2005, and as late as last year, 15 alleged members were detained. (nh)

Source: TVP