A woman who smuggled heroin into Virginia for an international drug-smuggling ring has pleaded guilty.
Yvonne Owusu pleaded guilty in federal court in Alexandria to importing heroin, admitting that she was offered $15,000 to bring the drug in a suitcase to the United States.
She was arrested in May when she arrived after at Washington Dulles International Airport and Customs and Border Protection officials detected “a bulge” in the lining of her luggage, according to court records.
Officials found about 3.3 kilograms — about 7.3 pounds — of heroin in her luggage, court documents say. Heroin generally has a street value of about $70,000 per kilogram, according to CBP officials.
Federal prosecutors say Owusu was working for a Ghana-based heroin-smuggling ring that targeted the mid-Atlantic region by having couriers fly into Dulles with drug-lined suitcases.
Authorities announced earlier this month that they nabbed the ring’s leaders. Eight others have been indicted in the case.
The ring had been operating for about a year. Prosecutors say the ring’s leaders recruited Ghanians who live in the Washington area to work as couriers.
Owusu, 26, of Alexandria, is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 21. Her plea agreement says she faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years behind bars, and could get up to life in prison.
