20060819

Public WC

Publ

Public WC (link)

Woman accused of heroin-soaked panties

A Chinese woman has appeared in court accused of transporting panties and long johns soaked in heroin, state media said Friday.

Wang Zhiqin, 42, from Wuhan, capital of China's central province of Hubei, was charged with transporting 1.44 kg (3.2lb) of heroin soaked into 15 items of underwear, the China Daily said.

"Drug tests apparently detected heroin on them and Wang was arrested after a tip-off," the China Daily said.

Wang pleaded innocent during her trial at a Shanghai court Thursday, saying the tainted underwear had been planted in her luggage, a pink trunk, after two men in Kunming, capital of the southwestern Yunnan province, offered her a job and a plane ticket to Shanghai.

Wang's lawyer queried the investigating police's methods, who derived the quantity of heroin by weighing the drug-soaked underwear, the paper said.

"There is no evidence of the exact purity and quantity of the heroin, and there is no evidence proving Wang was aware of what she was carrying," the paper quoted the lawyer as saying.

If convicted, Wang could face the death penalty, the paper said.

The trial continues.