Mom of 5-Year-Old Drug Mule Caught

April 30 -- A mother whose 5-year-old daughter was caught at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport with a kilogram of heroin has been apprehended in Colombia, and is accused of planning a similar trip for her 8-year-old son as well, officials said today.

The little girl arrived at JFK on April 18 from Bogota, Colombia, with two hard-sided suitcases and matching baggage-claim tickets, officials said. An inspector probed the siding of one suitcase and discovered a powder that later tested positive for heroin.

Myriam Lorena Conde, 31, was detained Monday night in Cali, Colombia.

Police said today the the 5-year-old's trip may have been just the first the mother was planning.

"[Conde] was expecting that her daughter would be able to go through with these drugs, so that later she could send an 8-year-old son," Luis Ernesto Gilibert, general director of police, told reporters in Colombia as he presented the mother to the press. She wore a black leather jacket, and hid her face from the cameras.

'A Terrible Shame'

"It's very sad, a terrible shame that a mother is using her daughter to transport drugs," Gilibert said.

Talks have begun for Conde's possible extradition to the United States, according to U.S. Customs Service officials.

María Esilda Hurtado, the 5-year-old's aunt, said the child had lived with her family for three years, and they were disturbed by what the mother is alleged to have done with her.

"We didn't know what she was carrying," said Hurtado, who had custody of the child.

U.S. Customs and Drug Enforcement Administration agents helped with the arrest. Colombian National Police are executing several more search warrants in Colombia and the investigation is ongoing.

The U.S. head of the DEA in Colombia, Leo Arreguín, said the aunt only allowed the girl to go in order to visit her grandmother.

The aunt said she would seek the return of the girl. Her son told The Associated Press that the family felt a tremendous sadness over what had happened and that they would fight for the 5-year-old.