Woman charged with trying to smuggle 150 lbs of cannabis on SFO flight to Germany

Woman tried to smuggle 150 lbs of cannabis from SFO to Germany: DA

A woman was arrested at San Francisco International Airport for allegedly attempting to smuggle 150 pounds of marijuana aboard a flight to Germany, the San Mateo County DA said.

SAN FRANCISCO - San Mateo County prosecutors have charged a 34-year-old California woman with two felonies for allegedly trying to smuggle more than 150 pounds of cannabis onto an international flight.

The San Mateo Business Journal first reported that Diana Bahlawan was arrested on May 6 as she was trying to board a United Airlines flight from San Francisco International Airport to Frankfurt, Germany.

Airport security flagged her roller bags for looking unusually heavy, and found more than 130 vacuum-sealed bags of cannabis inside.

Bahlawan was charged with unlawful transport of marijuana and burglary. 

She has posted bail, DA Steve Wagstaffe said, and is scheduled to appear in court for her initial arraignment on June 2.

This drug bust follows on the heels of another major case out of SFO.

In that case, the San Mateo County DA charged Yasmin Vantongeren, 25, who is Australian, who allegedly had 44 points of methamphetamine in her luggage.

She is still in custody and had a pretrial hearing last week, Wagstaffe said. 

She has pleaded not guilty to transporting a controlled substance for sale and possession of a controlled substance for sale. 

In an interview on Wednesday, Wagstaffe said that airport cases, which are also under the jurisdiction of the TSA and FBI, could be charged either federally or by the state.

Wagstaffe said that his office always asks the federal government if they want to charge the case first. 

But in these two cases, the U.S. Attorney's Office declined.

"They have really raised their threshold for taking drug cases," he said. "We are glad to take them."