Fears Putin will use WNBA All-Star Brittney Griner, 31, as a 'high-profile hostage' after she was detained on arrival at Moscow airport three WEEKS ago with 'cannabis-filled vape pen': Faces 10 YEARS in jail
Brittney Griner, 31, who plays in the WNBA for the Phoenix Mercury was arrested last month in Russia and charged with drug smuggling
A drug-sniffing dog was drawn to her luggage at the Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow
Russian customs officials inspected the bag and found vape cartridges
She was charge with smuggling a 'significant amount' of drugs, a crime carrying a penalty of five to ten years
Griner remains in custody and the team said they are 'monitoring the situation'
The arrest comes as Russia is increasingly cut off from the rest of the world due to the country's invasion of Ukraine
By Janon Fisher For Dailymail.Com
Published: 12:51 EST, 5 March 2022 | Updated: 08:21 EST, 6 March 2022
American women's basketball great Brittney Griner has been detained in Russia for at least three weeks after the two-time Olympic gold medal winner and seven time WNBA All-Star was arrested at a Moscow airport for allegedly having a vape pen filled with hash oil.
Griner, 31, was detained last month while flying in to play for her Russian basketball team during the WNBA offseason, but there has been no confirmed date of when she was arrested. Her last communication was on February 5 when she posted a photo to Instagram of her and her Phoenix Mercury teammates.
Now Russia might use Griner as leverage as she faces up to 10 years in prison on the drug smuggling charge.
'If we want her out of jail, Russia is going to have some terms,' Former U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Russia and Ukraine Evelyn Farkas told Yahoo Sports. 'It could be a prisoner swap. They also could use it as an implicit threat or blackmail to get us to do something or not do something. Either way, they find it useful.'
In a statement to DailyMail.com on Saturday, Griner's agent Lindsay Kagawa Colas did not dispute reports of her client's detention.
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https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10581049/WNBA-Star-Brittney-Griner-arrested-Russia-drug-smuggling-charges-Moscow-airport.html