Argentine granny offers 3yearold for cocaine

BUENOS AIRES (Reuter) An Argentine grandmother was arrested after being
caught on camera as she tried to sell her 3yearold granddaughter for a
pound of cocaine and $1,000 in cash, police said Tuesday.

Police working with Argentina's Channel 13 television moved in after hidden
cameras filmed the grandmother, 54, in a restaurant trying to strike a drug
deal with an undercover policeman, whom she told: ``She doesn't know
anything, she's an angel.''

A pound of cocaine would have a street value of about $15,000, a police
drugs expert said.

The scene broadcast Monday night took place in Lomas de Zamora on the
outskirts of Buenos Aires, where the woman gave the undercover officer
advice on looking after the little girl, apparently shy of being handed
over to a total stranger:

``She's like that when she doesn't know someone, but she won't be shy for
long. You should take her for a walk, buy her a little doll or something,''
she said.

The trap was set by a federal judge, Channel 13 and a policeman posing as a
lawyer whose wife could not have children. Police said the grandmother was
a known drug dealer in the area. The girl was taken into court custody.

^REUTER@