Woman admits she wasn't wearing any maxipads - but was carrying nearly a pound of cocaine in her underwear

A Pennsylvania woman acknowledged yesterday she tried smuggling cocaine and heroin into the US via Logan Airport - almost a pound in her underwear and another pound of heroin and cocaine in pellets she had swallowed.

Natalia Alexander Duran, 22, will be sentenced on June 28, following her guilty plea to two counts of importation of a controlled substance (heroin and cocaine), and two counts of possession of a controlled substance with the intent to distribute (heroin and cocaine), the US Attorney's office in Boston reports. Duran faces a minimum mandatory sentence of five years in federal prison.

According to an affidavit by a Homeland Security agent who investigated her case, Duran arrived at Logan on a JetBlue flight from the Dominican Republic on May 30, 2017 and was pulled aside for a baggage check.. Agents found nothing in her bag, but decided to conduct a pat down after she told them she couldn't remember her current address in Philadelphia or her mother's address in Yonkers, NY.

Duran told the female agents she needed to use a restroom first; agents said they needed to pat her down first. An agent felt "an abnormality in Duran's groin area." Duran, the affidavit states, said that was just the three maxipads she was wearing. She became argumentative, but eventually admitted she wasn't wearing maxipads, but was instead carrying drugs.

Duran began reaching into the groin area of her underwear and emptying handfuls of pellets on the floor.

She then withdrew pellets from her buttocks, the affidavit continues. In total, the pellets weighed nearly a pound and showed evidence of containing cocaine.

According to the US Attorney's office:

Concerned that Duran may have ingested additional pellets of drugs, she was transported to a local hospital and given an x-ray, which revealed numerous pellets inside her abdominal area. While at the hospital, Duran excreted an additional 68 pellets. A combined total of 109 pellets were recovered and tested and determined to be approximately 971 grams of cocaine and approximately 109 grams of heroin.