Laura Zuniga: Mexican Beauty Queen Arrested In Gun-Filled Truck

GUADALAJARA, Mexico -- A reigning Mexican beauty queen from the drug-plagued state of Sinaloa was arrested with suspected gang members in a truck filled guns and ammunition, police said Tuesday.

Miss Sinaloa 2008 Laura Zuniga stared at the ground, with her flowing dark hair concealing her face, as she stood squeezed between seven alleged gunmen lined up before journalists. Soldiers wearing ski masks guarded the 23-year-old model and the suspects.

Zuniga was arrested shortly before midnight Monday at a military checkpoint in Zapopan, just outside the colonial city of Guadalajara, said Jalisco state police director, Francisco Alejandro Solorio.

Zuniga was riding in one of two trucks, where soldiers found a large stash of weapons, including two AR-15 assault rifles, 38 specials, 9mm handguns, nine magazines, 633 cartridges and $53,300 in U.S. currency, Solorio said.

Zuniga told police that she was planning on traveling to Bolivia and Colombia with the men to go shopping, Solorio said.

When the former preschool teacher won Miss Sinaloa in July she gave an impassioned speech about how society should value women more, especially mothers. In October, she won the Hispanoamerican Queen beauty contest in October against competitors from across Latin America.

She placed third in the Nuestra Belleza Mexico pageant in Monterrey in September. That pageant sends its winner to the Miss Universe contest. For placing third, she was expected to represent Mexico in the 2009 Miss International contest.

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Zuniga is from the Pacific coast state of Sinaloa, the home of the powerful cartel of the same name. It was not immediately known whether Zuniga and the men were being investigated for drug ties.

Lupita Jones, the national director of Nuestra Belleza Mexico, released a statement distancing the organization from Zuniga. Jones also said Nuestra Belleza knew nothing about "any illicit activity in which she could be involved."

The organization also says it will await the results of the investigation before making any decision about whether to strip Zuniga of her crown.

"Since 1994, Nuestra Belleza has been a serious, honest and transparent organization dedicated exclusively to preparing Mexican women to successfully represent our country en various contests and whose object is to show the beauty, value and intelligence of each one of them," Jones said.

Tatiana Limpias of Gloria promotions, which organizes the Hispanoamerican contest in Bolivia, told The Associated Press that their lawyers were also looking into the matter before making a decision about her crown.

Comments

[VeritasVincit]

I volunteer to 'ghost' write the screen play! Mexico, hot chick, guns ... an escape to Venezuela where she becomes the "Communications Director" for Hugo Chavez. The final scene is a dinner meeting between Hugo and GWB in which our heroine is casually drapped over Hugo's shoulder flirting with GWB -

fade to black...

[RASTA MAN]

DON'T YOU JUST LOVE WOMEN WHO ARE INTRIGUED BY THE MAFIA TYPES AND THEN WONDER WHY THEY SUFFER FROM THAT SAME HAND?

I JUST LOVE THE FEMALE MIND....SO COMPLETELY REMOVED YET JUSTIFIED FROM ANY RESPONSIBILITY OF THEIR OWN ADVOCACY AND ACTIONS.

[lunchlady]

Oops, maybe the boys were getting the money together for her next augmentation.

[tsand19151]

she's hot...............

[VeritasVincit]

ditto, she's hot!
Hot chick and guns -

[AsianMan]

so she likes bad boys. she probably should have made that clear when she made that impassioned speech about "society should value women more." i guess drug runners value women more than others. Go miss latina!! what a great role model you are!!!

[Lane4411]

Did she have "those", lifted with drug money?
Also, she should be responsible for securing the US, border. "Those", make me feel very safe.

[chevyval]

It's amazing how much effort people put into ruining their lives.

[jabreal00]

Well she was being truthful. She was going shopping with her dear friends for high powered assault rifles and cocaine. Cut her some slack because she is HOT!

[anastasiabeaverhousen]

I don't remember seeing the drug-running talent portion of the pageant.....

[Loisebby]

What, drug runners can't run around with hot chicks...

[Soundofthunder]

I'm starting a halfway home for wayward beauty queens. Muy caliente!

SOT

[bobo5]

Straight men will have to be thrown out of the jury pool. That Marvin Pickles scene in that courtroom in the movie Serial Mom comes to mind.

[dhinds]

Mexico's principle TV Network (Televisa) just reported that 8 people from various Mexican states travelling in two vehicles were arrested with 5 guns. The eight people are identified as members of the Juarez Drug Cartel, located in Juarez City, across the border from El Paso, Texas. The beauty queen is reportedly "sentimentally linked" to the leader of the eight Cartel members, so we can assume that she knows more about their business dealings than I originally suspected and is therefore, likely to lose her title.

This information was broadcast by a Mexico City TV station. In 8 minutes a Guadalajara station transmits it's afternoon news and if I hear anything new and significant I'll pass it on, but the only thing noteworthy so far is the fact that the narcos were in the company of a beauty contest winner.

[dhinds]

The local station provided more details about the spot in which the arrests were made, the color of the trucks and their license plate numbers. They did that for 15 minutes and then continued on with coverage of the local Xmas celebrations, weather and sports.

[bobo5]

Mucha leche.

[Deparis]

What a cutie! Gawd must have spent a lot of time and attention making that creature. Man, oh man...