A 21-year-old former Bolivian beauty queen, Jade Callau, has been arrested after her small aircraft was forced to land in Argentina, where authorities discovered 359kg of cocaine onboard, valued at approximately £12 million.
Callau, who was crowned Miss FexpoBorja 2019 in her hometown of San Borja, had previously made multiple TV appearances, with her latest social media post surfacing just 10 days before her arrest. On TikTok, where she has over 6,000 followers, she regularly shared videos of herself dancing and applying makeup.
Callau and her 42-year-old Brazilian pilot, Carlos Costas Diaz, were flying a Cessna 210 when they were forced to land in a cornfield in the Paraná Delta, located 900 miles away from Bolivia. Authorities reported that the plane had run out of fuel while en route to an undisclosed destination.
According to Nestor Roncaglia, Security Minister of Entre Ríos Province, the local police were notified of the emergency landing on Thursday, January 23. Upon investigation, law enforcement officers discovered 352 packages of cocaine, weighing 359kg in total.
Authorities estimate that the cocaine had a street value of €14 million (£11.75 million) in Europe. Investigators believe the plane originated from Bolivia and had flown approximately 1,500 kilometers before the emergency landing.
Bolivia remains one of the largest producers of coca plants, alongside Peru and Colombia, which are key players in the global cocaine trade. It is suspected that the drugs were intended to be transported to Colombia, where a significant portion of the world’s cocaine is processed and distributed.
Both Callau and Diaz were taken into custody as investigations into the drug trafficking network continue.