Two Thai women were sentenced to life yesterday for allegedly smuggling more than half a kilogram of cocaine from Brazil to Cambodia in May last year. They were also fined $15,000 each.

Kim Dany, presiding judge of Phnom Penh Municipal Court, said the two women – Thanyanat Sama-Arphat, 31, and Wong Trakool Sangdao, 41 – were charged with drug trafficking.

Colonel Yeng Bunna, anti-drug police chief, claimed the two convicts were hired by two Nigerians, who aimed to sell the drugs in Thailand.

Information provided by their Thai counterparts led the police to arrest Thanyanat at Phnom Penh International Airport. “She was arrested after the police checked her underwear, and found … six packages of cocaine hidden in it,” Bunna said.

Police later detained another suspect, Wong, at a hotel in Phnom Penh, Bunna added. Lawyer for the defence Lay Nora declined to comment yesterday.