Sharon Armstrong
April 26th, 2011 at 10:00 am by David FarrarStuff reported:
A distraught Sharon Armstrong says she was duped into smuggling five kilograms of cocaine by an online lover.
“Oh God, I feel so foolish,” she told The Dominion Post from her Argentinian cell yesterday. “You know I’ve worked for the government for 20 years. I’ve just been a silly old lady. Silly, silly, silly and too trusting. I’ve been scammed. This is just so shameful.”
Friends and family say her arrest is out of character and believe Ms Armstrong, 54, is the victim of an online dating scam.
The former deputy chief executive of the Maori Language Commission had been a contractor at Wellington Maori education and language company Haemata since February.
An Argentinian official said she was arrested on April 13 as she was waiting to board British Airways flight BA2444 to London.
The cocaine was found after she had checked in her baggage, the official said. A security scan revealed the cocaine concealed by a false bottom in her suitcase.
For several months, Ms Armstrong had been exchanging emails and chatting on Skype with a man she had met online.
She was due to travel to London to meet him but, at the last minute, her flights were changed to go via Argentina, where the man reportedly asked her to pick up some documents relating to a new job.
Friends and family repeatedly warned Ms Armstrong it could be a scam. But the man had put about $1000 toward the cost of the altered tickets, and she thought he was legitimate. She has not heard from him since her arrest.
Considering her family and friends warned her it was a scam, one would have thought that any request to take someone’s luggage should have been refused – especially from someone you have never met.
I’ve only once taken an item for someone else on a plane, and that was taking a pram to London for a very good friend’s pregnant sister.
The latest update is:
A former top public servant accused of cocaine smuggling in Argentina has defended carrying more than one driver’s licence, saying she is “not a criminal”.
Sharon Armstrong, 54, was arrested by police in a Buenos Aires airport about two weeks ago after 5 kilograms of cocaine was discovered in the false bottom of her suitcase.
Police confiscated personal effects, including an iPhone, passport, Farmers card and Argentinian, Australian and United States cash. Officials said they also found four driver licences.
But Ms Armstrong said yesterday she had three licences – New Zealand, Australian and Cook Islands – with her. The Australian licence was for when she visited family, and the $10 Cook Islands licence had expired.
If they are all in your name it is not that suspicious. However while IIRC the Cooks do require you to get a local licence (earns them revenue), as far as I know one can use a NZ licence in Australia. So it does raise some suspicions.
I don’t know Sharon Armstrong, and hope if she is an innocent dupe she is not punished for her stupidity. But I hope she can provide some proof that she was doing this for love, not payment. The difference is several years jail.
Related posts:
- The Sharon Armstrong case
- Ariel Sharon joke
- HoS apologies to Sharon Shipton
- New Statesman: We were wrong about Sharon
April 26th, 2011 at 10:10 am
I doubt being stupid is a defence in drug smuggling cases, otherwise everyone who is caught would be “an innocent dupe”.
Vote:April 26th, 2011 at 10:20 am
I’ve noticed the photographs published have changed from ginga to black.
Is an Argies-are-racist-oppressors defence on the horizon?
Vote:April 26th, 2011 at 10:26 am
Cook Islands does require you to get a licence, it does raise revenue for them and it’s a cute souvenir, plus it’s required to comply with their laws. For many years I carried 3 – NZ, Cooks and US. I dont think there’s anything inherently suspicious about having them.
Carrying 5 kg of cocaine is another matter….
Vote:April 26th, 2011 at 10:34 am
Some states in Oz only give you a certain length of time on a O/Seas license before requiring you to get a local one,
i.e NSW only give you 90 days before requiring you to get one, so if she had been staying on a long term basis with rellies it is understandable that she had one.
But the key point is Are they all in the same name or not?, if they are it is no worse that having two passports in the same name if you have dual nationality.
Vote:April 26th, 2011 at 10:36 am
“… Police confiscated personal effects, including an iPhone, passport, Farmers card ……”
Clearly it is the Famers Card that is most incriminating. Having a Farmers Card is bad enough – but why would you take it overseas?
Vote:April 26th, 2011 at 10:49 am
She was also reported yesterday as refusing to name the mystery man in the UK for “fear of recriminations”. I don’t know about any of you, but if I was in her boots, I would be singing like a canary, and making sure that the people who got me into the situation went down as well.
Vote:April 26th, 2011 at 10:54 am
it all sounds sooo dodgy BUT I give her the benefit of a lot of doubt AND as I2 says, if innocent, I would give the bastard up in a heartbeat
Vote:April 26th, 2011 at 10:56 am
The holes in Ms Armstrong’s flimsy ‘poor little me’ story are becoming more and more evident with every bumbling interview she or her family gives. Yet the gushing NZ media are doing their best to make her into a martyr- I await the Womans Day/New Idea exclusive ‘My prison hell’ if she is somehow released…It will be as vomit inducing as the David Bain New Idea photoshoot.
Vote:April 26th, 2011 at 10:57 am
Didn’t this woman start out as a probation officer? Hmm, makes it even more suspect that she didnt realise what was in thebag. Maybe as dumb as a rock, but I guess is genuinely distraught, mostly about being caught.
Still drug mule must have been a step up the career ladder from the MLC?
New Tui ad, “I had no idea what was in the bag, officer”
Vote:April 26th, 2011 at 10:57 am
and as far as being scared, if he /they are really nasty pricks, she is in danger whether she sings or not
Vote:April 26th, 2011 at 11:01 am
How ironic this being on the same page…maybe she needs the assistance of one of your advertisers DPF.
“Drug Charges
Vote:Drug Law Experts. Free Advice. Exceptional Success. Act Now. VIC.
http://www.criminal-lawyers.com.au“
April 26th, 2011 at 11:15 am
As a drug mule, wittingly or not, rest assured she will be one of many her “handler” will have groomed. Even if she sings his name like a canary on steroids he will have disappeared & will never be traced.
No criminal who has gone to the trouble to set this up will have not prepared their stage exit well.
Vote:April 26th, 2011 at 11:20 am
She’ll have to do time, pleading stupidity might help with the sentence. But if stupidity is a defence for drug running then I would expect a huge rise in mentally challenged drug runners.
Vote:April 26th, 2011 at 11:24 am
What is someone, who claims to be as dumb as a box of spanners, doing in a senior role in the public sector?
Hang on…..
Vote:April 26th, 2011 at 11:29 am
5kgs is a lot of weight in anyone’s bag – did she not think to look before she went to the airport? I am assuming that she took her own bag to Argentina, in which case she would have had two bags to take back through Argentinean customs – did she repack the new bag inside her original bag – either way she is stupid for accepting someone else’s luggage – every international traveller knows not to do this.
Vote:April 26th, 2011 at 11:29 am
Is it plausible that somebody this stupid and naiive (as Armstrong is trying to paint herself) could be appointed deputy Chief Executive of the Maori Language Commission?
If so, it doesn’t say much for the calibre of those who hired her. Or did they not bother to check out if her CV was bona fide?
Vote:April 26th, 2011 at 11:30 am
Longknives @ 10.56pm
Hard to fault your logic. We can expect hundreds of hectares of trees to give their all so the mad liberals can drool over the terrible deprivations this woman will face. There will be interviews from everyone who has met her, former workmates will give their confidential insights & her airbrushed baby photos will beam from the front page of “Women’s Wankly”. She will probably get married in prison & doubtlessly some sopping wet QC will volunteer to oversee her defense. Then when the whanau finally exert enough pressure on the government of the day to bargain for her release she will be flown back to NZ & receive a fortune for the exclusive rights to her story.
A festival of emotive bullshit only rivaled by the Bain saga awaits us.
Vote:April 26th, 2011 at 11:45 am
I see Kiwiblog commenters continue their reputation for empathy and thoughtfulness in considering news stories of the day…
Vote:April 26th, 2011 at 11:52 am
If they are all in your name it is not that suspicious. However while IIRC the Cooks do require you to get a local licence (earns them revenue), as far as I know one can use a NZ licence in Australia. So it does raise some suspicions.
While true, the Australian license counts as more ‘points’ of identification than a foreign licence when applying for other things: Medicare card, rental applications, etc. So if she was actually living in Aus, then it would have made sense for her to apply for an Australian license.
I have all three myself: Cooks (Expired), NZ & Aussie license’s. But I don’t carry all at once…
Vote:April 26th, 2011 at 12:03 pm
@ Psycho
Oh come on!
Are you suggesting no one should examine the aspects of this story and perhaps come to some other conclusion than she was completely innocent of knowing that 5kg of a class A drug were in her luggage?
There are plenty of grounds to suggest that there is more to this story than is being peddled in the press.
But I just guess the rednecks here just won’t tow the lefty line.
Vote:I gues seeing what that shit does to people makes me less inclined to turn a blind eye.
April 26th, 2011 at 12:12 pm
Another victim of a needless and wasteful war on drugs. Thanks governments. Please may we have another.
That said, I can’t help but think there’s more to the story. Let’s say, hypothetically, you need fast cash and decide to risk everything and agree to be a drug mule. Given the risks, it would be extraordinarily cheap for you to develop a cover story in advance of your trip: set up an email account, set up a dating account, “meet” someone, and develop conversation history, tell your friends and family what’s happening, and ignore their advice not to take the big trip. Then you can point to all that in prison and say you’re innocent. If it buys even a year less in prison its a bargain.
But perhaps I am reading too much into this.
Vote:April 26th, 2011 at 12:20 pm
5 kg is cocaine in your suitcase is a fair bit of extra weight, 5 kg of anything is a lot extra. Even if she did this for love it will, not mitigate her sentence. To do this against the background from friends that it is a scam does not help her at all. I feel this is going to go very badly for her and given her health condition it could have a very sad ending.
Vote:April 26th, 2011 at 12:26 pm
“If they are all in your name it is not that suspicious. However while IIRC the Cooks do require you to get a local licence (earns them revenue), as far as I know one can use a NZ licence in Australia. So it does raise some suspicions”
Why does it raise “Suspicions” rather than just “Questions” ?
Vote:Is having an OZ, NZ & and an expired Cook Is drivers licence/s a well known tactic of international drug mules?
FFS – this woman made a stupid mistake and will likely pay for her actions herself. I doubt anyone here can offer her any useful advise.
April 26th, 2011 at 12:30 pm
But I just guess the rednecks here just won’t tow the lefty line.
“Toe,” not “tow.”
If it’s “lefty” to wait to see what actually happened before bad-mouthing the person it happened to with all kinds of poisonous bullshit, so be it.
Vote:April 26th, 2011 at 1:13 pm
I find the Australian Driver licence a little curious and her claim she needed it when visiting family there. I lived in Australia for a number of years and most of the Australian States require proof of address before issuing a licence – you have to show them a bill or bank statement with your name and Australian address on it. Did she ever live there?
Secondly, what’s with the media describing her as a former “top public servant”? The Maori Language Commission is a minor fourth tier Government agency, far far removed from main-stream Government departments that have proper responsibilities. The fact that Armstrong got the job of deputy CEO with a CV that included 9 years as a Probation Officer is evidence that it is a very lowly position indeed.
Vote:April 26th, 2011 at 1:13 pm
Why am I ALWAYS asked when checking in “Did you pack your own bag” ?
Except AirNZ trans tasman flights when there is now no old fashioned checkin as such.
Vote:April 26th, 2011 at 1:33 pm
Shes guilty as sin.
I know shes a former public service “worker” and doesnt believe in personal responsibility.. but its now time to take your medicine.
She should look on the bright side – she will get to learn a new culture. learn a new language. it could be exciting.
Vote:April 26th, 2011 at 1:59 pm
She is guilty of knowingly trying to smuggle drugs or she is an idiot for carrying another persons luggage. It is highly unlikely that she can mount a defense of stupidity and the alleged conman in England is not going to be easy to find to verify the story. Armstrong is likely to do a very long stretch in Argentina.
Vote:April 26th, 2011 at 3:47 pm
The case has parallels with Phyllis Tarawhiti.
She was a Wainuiomata grandmother sentenced to life (later reduced to 35 years prison) in Thailand for smuggling $4 million of heroin.
She served 11 years before the King had a rush of blood to his head and gave her a Royal Pardon three years ago.
Vote:April 26th, 2011 at 4:09 pm
Chris2 – really? Tarawhiti was 38 or so at the time and she admitted her crime. Although it would be rather hard to deny as she had the smack taped to her person.
Vote:April 26th, 2011 at 5:17 pm
Voice of Reason- Kim Workman would argue racial profiling is to blame…..
Vote:April 26th, 2011 at 5:54 pm
As an aside this reminds me of the other crims. The Cook Island Government. Who expect so much of New Zealand. And have automatic rights to New Zealand access etc etc and etc. But rip off every poor tourist who goes up there for a few days and wants to drive a car. We should refuse to automatically recognise at all Cook Island Driving Liscenses and make them all sit the NZ test here.
Vote:tit for tat.
April 26th, 2011 at 6:45 pm
First question asked by every Customs Officer and Airport check in person anywhere in the world.
Did you pack your own bag?
Second question I would now ask her.
Is this suitcase the one you left New Zealand with?
Now whether the answer to question two is yes or no , she is so far in the shit its a never mind. Do your lag lady.
Giver her a warning for the coke and 7 years for being so fucking stupid she is a waste of oxygen.
The warning flags on her will have gone off all over the world, if she wasn’t snapped in SA she would have been turned inside out in London
Vote:April 26th, 2011 at 6:54 pm
And DPF
Prima facie she is a international drug smuggler.
It she was an Asian bringing 5 kg of coke or heroin into NZ she would be being pilloried for corrupting our youth… robbing them of their innocence blah blah blah…. the youth of the UK have the same rights…. to be protected from people like this…even if she is a cretin… fuck her… stupid… in love…… whatever
Vote:April 26th, 2011 at 9:25 pm
@KH
I always thought the licence things were a bit of fun for tourists to do. I remember people falling over on their scooter at the turn, and still passing the test!
I had a run-in with the “cops” because I was carrying a two American girls on the back of my bike. They pulled me over and threatened to throw me in jail! They were actually unexpectedly aggressive – considering the number of drunks they ignore riding home every night! Fortunately I was leaving in a few days, so apologised to the punks who were violently thumping the bike while accusing me of scratching it, and caught the bus back to my accommodation.
We provide more than instant citizenship to NZ. We sponsor most of their healthcare and education.
From http://www.aid.govt.nz/programmes/c-cook-islands.html
“Development assistance comprises roughly 14% of GDP in 2010/11.” (This is nearly all from NZ)
and
“New Zealand has allocated $45 million in bilateral assistance to Cook Islands during 2009/10 to 2011/12. In addition, New Zealand administers Australia’s annual contribution (AU$1.5 million) through a delegated cooperation arrangement, so total development assistance totals around $51 million.”
Thinking back, NZ trying to establish influence on tiny Pacific Islands which could never sustain a decent economy (at least to the standard of living CIs feel entitled to) was idiotic. It’s amazing we are so lax on bludgers that we even support them in other countries!
Vote:April 27th, 2011 at 6:14 am
Hi, greetings from Argentina, I am sorry if my english or expressions are not perfect ( i speak spanish) I am going to tell you what is being said, an what police knows about the case here in Argentina. This woman had been contacted by the internet by one person of a drug organization, this woman was seduced by this person but was also seduced to make a little job to earn a big amount of money, she was told to travel and contact a group of persons in Buenos Aires that would give her a case were she had to put her clothes, this case contained the drug, she obviously knew this. At the airport she was caught by the police when tried to living the country. She is now in jail in Ezeiza. Obviously she is not going to tell anything about this organization, the peolple she was told to contact in Buenos Aires or anything. She will argue she didnt knew anything, and argue about her “respectable name and life she had in NZ for the last 30 years”. Any question you would like to make me will be answered.
Vote:April 27th, 2011 at 7:18 am
No surprise, the reality of being caught with drugs:
Vote:April 27th, 2011 at 7:26 am
“The Cook Island Government. Who expect so much of New Zealand. And have automatic rights to New Zealand access etc etc and etc. But rip off every poor tourist who goes up there for a few days and wants to drive a car. ”
Dude, it was like $25 the last time I was there, hardly Grand Theft Auto. I am just pleased they are doing some stuff to stand on their own two feet.
OT but what SHOULD have happened is NZ should have owned up to our responsibilities and annexed the Cook Islands, Niue and Tokelau instead of pretending they were real countries. Same rights for their citizens, probably lower costs for us.
Vote:April 27th, 2011 at 7:58 am
She said she was frustrated by media reports describing her as an international drug trafficker.
“I am concerned that the media have been given misinformation from the police, photos of me once I was arrested, information about what I carried. I’m not the person they are making me out to be.”
This woman is so stupid. To be mouthing off to the media about the Argentinian Police even before her first Court appearance!
That possible 15 year sentence she is facing probably just got a bit longer.
She ‘aint in the land of milk, honey, political correctness and taxpayer handouts anymore.
She needs to shut up, make an early guilty plea, name “names” and beg the Court for a lenient sentence. I hope she does not seek to enlist the NZ Government’s support in mitigating her sentence.
Vote:April 27th, 2011 at 12:10 pm
Chris- The playing of the ‘Race Card’ is just around the corner. Mark my words…..
Vote:April 27th, 2011 at 12:53 pm
Longknives @ 12.10pm
Happily in this case the ‘Race Card’ has probably a similar value to the two of spades. Only in NZ does it become a ‘get out of jail free’ card.
Vote:April 27th, 2011 at 1:10 pm
Nasska I hope you are right in that respect! I was thinking the media will likely at some stage drum up the “Innocent Maori girl being set up, detained and tortured by racist and corrupt Argentine Police” angle….The Woman’s Day readers will lap it up.
Vote:April 27th, 2011 at 3:55 pm
LongKnives, As an Argentinian i can tell you that Argentine police is not racist, it is very corrupt but not racist (maybe only with people from Bolivia, Perú and Paraguay) but not with NZ. This woman wanted to live the country with 5 kg of cocaine, what better oportunity por Argentininan Police to catch someone and say “Look how good we do our job” The truth is 1000 kg dealers are partners with corrupt Argentinian police and politicians, 5kg dealers are caught and send to jail for a very long time. Mrs. Armstrong is at Ezeiza women jail.
Vote:April 27th, 2011 at 11:10 pm
I agree, a top public service worker kind of covers her role in Probation to her favour. A probation worker would of had some skills in dealing with criminals, apparently she was a probation worker for eight years.
A probation worker would know about the criminal world…………….she say’s this kind of world is new to her?
If this is a case of stupidity, we should be worried about other “top public service” and probation workers; as us tax payers don’t pay them to be stupid.
Vote:May 2nd, 2011 at 12:48 pm
I don’t know Sharon Armstrong, and hope if she is an innocent dupe she is not punished for her stupidity. But I hope she can provide some proof that she was doing this for love, not payment. The difference is several years jail
Well I do know her, too well! and look to your own family members and ponder on the sister, aunty, mother, daughter or bestfriend who is gentle, loving and warm and imagine her getting into this mess, that was Sharon, not in her character or nature at all, the media will paint an ignorant painting of her but we (thoughs who are blessed with her in our lives) know she is a fighter and a humble person, the multiple licenses hahaha what is she now an international dealer and spy because she has a rarotongan license to ride a scooter around raro? and an austrailian one so she can drive around to and from her families houses in Brissy and two kiwi licenses?? ohhhh thats Carmen Sandiego alright???*SARCASAM! She was the mother who cared about me when no one else did even if it was a ear grilling, she was the mum my friend used to bicker with about towels!! The lady who made me laugh if a swear word slipped outta her mouth as it was rear but funny when it did. Sharon is and always will be the person we know her to be and not what the media voultures are portraying her as.
Vote:June 1st, 2011 at 11:41 am
Well if it hasn’t gone and placed ya’ll in a knickers twist. Ya’ll go-on-now and be greatful sitt’n ther in ya comfy chair type’n on them ther little ole key board while this poor ole missy gone and got herself locked up in that ther prison. I sure as heck gona grab me a nice warm cup a something right now and be happy I got my little ole ray of sunshine family around me. That ther is the trouble with them folks today, a little less thankful and a lot more to say, heck even the wind speaks mountains over them ole keyboard strokes!!!
Vote:March 25th, 2012 at 8:47 pm
Response to Thomastheunbeliever
Question: “Having a Farmers Card is bad enough – but why would you take it overseas?”
Answer: “Because you are coming back to Aotearoa with the loot?.
Vote: