Drug war news: getting creative to sell and smuggle cocaine

Take a look at some of today's odd headlines about drug dealing:

• Brazil's drug dealers use Amy Winehouse's image to sell cocaine: The clear plastic bags carry a paper insert with a picture of the 27-year-old singer, who died at her north London home on July 23.  "Since there is so much information in the media that she was a drug user, the traffickers have taken advantage of this" to market their cocaine, a police officer told local media.
• Argentines find cocaine in hollow metal bolts: Customs officials say they found a Peruvian man with a box of metal bolts in his baggage, trying to board a flight to South Africa. Agents using a scanner discovered that the bolts, which came with nuts screwed on them, were hollowed out. A total of 45 pounds of cocaine was packed inside.

One a more serious note, the "Queen of the Pacific" doesn't seem to be coming to the U.S. anytime soon. A Mexican federl court panel ruled the alleged drug trafficker can't be extradited to the U.S. on a charge for which she was acquitted in Mexico, reports the AP.

Called the Underworld Queenpin by the Daily Beast and the Glamorous Gangster by ABC, Sandra Avila Beltran is the niece of the "godfather" of Mexican drug smuggling and a love interest of a Colombian trafficker. She was arrested in 2007, but was acquitted in December of drug-trafficking, money-laundering and organized-crime charges. She still faces an unrelated money-laundering charge.

Follow Stephanie on Twitter: @stephaniegarlow

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