Dutch professional sprinter Madiea Ghafoor has been sentenced to eight years and six months' imprisonment for importing drugs and drug trafficking aid. The 27-year-old had knowingly brought about 50 kilograms of ecstasy and about two kilograms of crystal meth in the car across the border in June, the judges at the district court Kleve stated. The accused's statement that she did not know about the drugs was implausible.
Nobody would give a courier drugs in the street sale value of 1.5 million euros, if he did not know. The risk would be far too high, the chairman Judge Jürgen Ruby stated in the verdict. The sentence was above the sentence required by the prosecution. She had pleaded for seven years and six months in prison. Ghafoor did not want to give any information about possible clients.
Routine control led to the arrest
Ghafoor's lawyer Norman Werner announced that he would challenge the verdict. The accused had earlier told her lawyer that she had wanted to dope before the World Cup in Doha because of a form low, and thereby engaged in the transport of doping agents. For the title fights in Qatar the sprinter would have been qualified, but because of the incident in June she was not represented.
Customs officials had routinely checked the 27-year-old in June after their entry on the highway at Emmerich and thereby found the partially welded multiple drugs and over 12,000 euros in cash.
Ghafoor competes in the sprint for 100, 200 and 400 meters and has been Dutch Champion several times. She also took part in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Brazil.
