A MODEL’S over-the-top flirting tipped off US border patrol officers, who discovered $134,000 in cocaine hidden behind the front grille of her Mercedes Benz, authorities said.
US Customs and Border Protection felt Anett Pikula was “overly talkative” when she was stopped on July 19 at the Port of Lukeville border crossing in Arizona.
“Flirtation was what was going on,” Customs and Border Protection spokesman Garrett Reinhart told the Associated Press.
Suspicious officers sent the curvy 39-year-old for a second look and a drug-sniffing dog quickly keyed in on a secret compartment at the engine firewall.
Investigators at the Port of Lukeville opened up the high-end coup and found 6kg of cocaine, packed into bricks and shrink-wrapped.
Pikula, who was born in Mexico, had been granted US citizenship in April and lives in Phoenix.
The divorced brunette stunner is an audacious world-traveller, posting seductive shots on social media from exotic locales across the globe, including Dubai, Amsterdam and Brazil, the New York Daily News reported.
“My whole life … romance, suspense, drama, action, cartoons,” she wrote at the top of an Instagram feed full of pictures of Pikula modelling bikinis, eating luxurious meals and flashing designer clothes and purses.
“All true stories,” the alleged drug mule added.
Pikula was taken into custody and handed to the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations. She is accused of “knowingly and intentionally possess[ing] with intent to distribute a quantity of cocaine”.
A passenger who was with her during the bust was released without charges.
Customs officers seized the drugs and the car.
