Colombian ex-beauty queen 'led drugs ring'

Police in Argentina have arrested a former Colombian beauty queen accused of leading a gang of lingerie models who used commercial flights to smuggle drugs worth millions of pounds from South America to Europe.

Angie Sanclemente Valencia was detained at a youth hostel in Buenos Aires on Wednesday, five months after a 21-year-old alleged member of her team was detained at Cancun airport with 55kg of cocaine in her suitcases. That led to the arrest of six other young women, several of whom identified Ms Sanclemente, a winner of Colombia's Coffee Queen pageant, as their ringleader. She is said to be romantically involved with a Mexican drug baron known as "The Monster".

After Interpol released a warrant for her arrest, Ms Sanclemente protested her innocence via Facebook. Her mother, Jeanette, said: "She is no drug-trafficker, nor is she the 'queen of cocaine'. There is... a plot against her. She will prove her innocence."

Police followed her to the hostel after they spotted her flying first-class into Buenos Aires with a Pomeranian dog.