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US woman charged with hiding loaded handgun in vagina

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After being arrested, an American woman revealed to police officers that she had hidden a fully-loaded handgun in her vagina.

It was never a good idea to begin with, but Ashley Castaneda, 31, only realised that she had made a terrible mistake as she was taken to jail for drug possession.

Castaneda and the man she was travelling with, Gabriel Garcia, 30, were asked to pull over after committing a traffic violation in North Waco, Texas, US. Police officers seized a total of 32.6g of methamphetamine​ from them —​ of which 2.7g were concealed under the driver's seat and the remaining 29.9g were stashed in Castaneda's purse —​ KWTX reported.

En route to jail, Castaneda alerted officers to the weapon that she had concealed in her vagina as she was afraid that it might go off.

"Officers immediately stopped and a female officer searched Castaneda discovering she had in fact placed a loaded Smith and Wesson pistol inside her body cavity," said the police in a statement.

"The weapon had a round chambered and a full magazine of bullets."

What officers retrieved was reportedly a rare six-shot Smith & Wesson Model 61 semi-automatic pistol which US firearms manufacturer Smith & Wesson had stopped producing in 1974. The pistol measured 11.9cm in length.

PHOTO: WACO POLICE DEPARTMENT / FACEBOOK

It was unclear if the gun's safety was on when officers found it.

According to Reuters, Sergeant Patrick Swanton, a spokesman for the Waco Police Department, said the manner in which Castaneda hid the gun made it difficult for officers to find it.

Castaneda and Garcia were both charged with methamphetamine possession. The former was also charged with breaching state concealed firearms laws.

Sources: Reuters, KWTX.

 

 

 

GunsUncategorisedunited statesdrugsCOURT & CRIME