S.F. DRUG SMUGGLER SENTENCED TO PRISON

Kommotini, Greece -- A 23-year-old San Francisco woman was sentenced to
11-1/4 years in prison Wednesday for smuggling 12-1/4 ounces of Turkish
heroin into Greece.

Laura Paige Van Maanen, a clothes designer, was convicted and sentenced on
the same day by a three-member appeals court. The court also ordered her to
pay an $18,000 fine.

Van Maanen was arrested May 19 on a train headed from Istanbul, Turkey, to
Athens, after police discovered she was traveling on a forged Liberian
passport.

Police later discovered she had swallowed a number of rubber capsules
containing heroin. She told the court she was headed for the Netherlands
and that the heroin was for her own use.

)1998 San Francisco Examiner