Medellín, Colombia

Girl smuggler caught: An 11-year-old girl who was visiting a relative jailed on gun charges and a 25-year-old woman accompanying her had already made it through one security check when they were stopped at a second prison checkpoint last week. Guards observed an irregular shape beneath the girl’s sweater and investigated. They found a .38-caliber revolver and 74 cell phones, including two BlackBerries, taped to her back. The girl and the woman, who claimed to be the girl’s sister, were both detained. Medellín became notorious in the late 1980s as the home of one of Colombia’s most powerful drug cartels. Last week’s smuggling attempt occurred just days after it was revealed that a convicted former Colombian politician had hosted a grand birthday bash at his jail in Bogotá.

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