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Police seek suspect's family

Girl, 15, caught at airport with cocaine `just telling stories'

Investigators are trying to find family or friends of a teenage girl arrested on drug trafficking charges after arriving from Haiti, a Broward sheriff's spokesman said Wednesday.

The 15-year-old U.S. citizen, who is not being identified by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel because she is a juvenile, was caught at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport with 61/2 pounds of pure cocaine sewn into three pairs of shoes in her luggage, sheriff's spokesman Neil Birenbaum said. The girl arrived on an American Airlines flight from Haiti on Tuesday night.

"Nothing she has told us so far appears to be truthful," Birenbaum said. "She's just telling stories. ... None of them have panned out."

At first, detectives said they believed her parents were using her to carry drugs, but they have not been able to confirm that. Birenbaum said she might have been acting on her own, although authorities are investigating whether others were involved.

"She's facing a tremendous amount of trouble," Birenbaum said.

The girl, who lists a Broward address in court papers, is charged as a juvenile with first-degree felony trafficking in cocaine over 400 grams, said Ron Ishoy, a spokesman for the Broward State Attorney's Office.

No parent or guardian attended the detention hearing Wednesday for the girl, who has no prior arrests, Ishoy said. She is being held at the county Juvenile Assessment Center on $250,000 bond, Birenbaum said.

At a news conference, Birenbaum displayed three pair of shoes. Their soles had been unstitched, stuffed with the narcotics and then re-sewn, he said. "Smugglers can be quite creative," Birenbaum said.

Macollvie Jean-François may be reached at mjfrancois@sun-sentinel.com or 954-356-4694.

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Police: 15 year old Haitian Girl is under arrest for trying to smuggle cocaine in shoes at Ft Lauderdale Airport

http://www.haitiwebs.com/haitianforu...ad.php?t=29871 (Le CNC assure que le projet loi sur le fonctionnement des coopératives sera prêt avan)