Former Miss Honduras arrested carrying $47,000

[July 08, 2011]  TEGUCIGALPA (AP) -- Honduran police say they have arrested Miss Honduras 2009 on money laundering charges for failing to declare the equivalent of $47,000 when entering the country.

Special services police spokesman Alex Madrid said 25-year-old Belgica Suarez was arrested with euros and British pounds on a Honduran highway near the Nicaraguan border. Madrid said the beauty queen failed to declare the money when she crossed the border from the city of Esteli in Nicaragua.

"She claimed she had earned the money working as a model in Europe," Madrid told The Associated Press.

According to Honduran law, travelers must declare to customs that they are carrying more than $10,000. Suarez was arrested along with a Nicaraguan driver.

[Associated Press]

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