A 21-year-old New Jersey woman told police she was paid $2,000 to swallow 52 pellets of cocaine and transport them from the Dominican Republic into the United States.
Luisa Gil was ordered held on $200,000 bail during her arraignment yesterday. She pleaded not guilty.
She was flagged by authorities because she was carrying only a small carry-on bag and bought her ticket the same day as her travel. She told authorities she was coming to live with an aunt in Roxbury and her cousin had purchased her ticket three days earlier.
After interviewing Gil upon her arrest at Logan Airport on Saturday night, authorities located a man waiting at Terminal E to meet her. He said he didn’t know her and was paid $500 to pick her up.
The man had a photo of her in his boot, police said.
Gil was eventually treated at Massachusetts General Hospital where she passed the blue-wrapped pellets.
Her lawyer, Anthony Lochiatto, said she has no ties to Massachusetts and did not know what it was she swallowed.
