Former Miss Guyana, Mia Rahaman, who appeared before a Canadian federal court on Thursday charged with importing a controlled substance believed to be cocaine, was released late on Thursday evening on Cdn$5,000 bail (around $700,000) plus Cdn$20,000 surety. She is to appear again in court on June 13.
As a condition of her release she has had to surrender her passport and other travel documents and has to reside with the person who posted the surety. She must also not be in possession of non-prescribed drugs and explosives, not leave Canada and report every Tuesday to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
Rahaman was detained early Wednesday morning in Toronto following her arrival at the Pearson International Airport on an Air Transat flight from Guyana. She was held after the Canadian Customs discovered her suitcase had a false bottom and sides in which some seven kilogrammes of the controlled substance were discovered. The false sides and bottoms were uncovered by a secondary examination after the suspicion of the Customs official, who initially interviewed her, was aroused by her behaviour.
Rahaman, at 22, was crowned Miss Guyana Universe in April 2002 and represented Guyana at the international pageant in Puerto Rico.