Who is Brittney Griner? WNBA All-star arrested in Russia on drug charges
WNBA superstar and two-time Olympic champion Brittney Griner is facing 10 years of prison after she was arrested in Russia for carrying vape cartridges in her bags. The renowned basketball player was traveling through Sheremetyevo airport which is 20 miles from Moscow when the Russian Federal Customs Service detained her after reportedly finding hashish oil in her luggage. It is exactly not known where Brittney Griner is being held as the detainment apparently took place in February. Russian Federal Customs Service had announced her arrest on Saturday, March 5.
It was reported that the Russian customs did not recognize Brittney Griner at first but she was later identified by TASS- a Russian news agency. Speaking of basketball players getting legally in trouble, a former NBA player Jim Farmer was arrested in February 2020 in a human trafficking sting after agreeing to pay $170 for sex with a 16-year-old. In another case, a school basketball player and son of a former NFL star were accused of sexually assaulting, sodomizing an 18-year-old woman in December 2018. Logan Kelley- an Ex Rutgers basketball star got in trouble after he slit a woman's throat with a knife at a notorious Tijuana strip club in February 2021.
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Who is Brittney Griner?
Brittney Griner plays for the Phoenix Mercury of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The 31-year-old played basketball for Baylor Lady Bears in Waco, Texas. She is the only NCAA player to score 2,000 points and block 500 shots. She was named the AP Player of the Year and the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four in the year 2012. She has won gold medals twice in the Olympics and is also a two-time WNBA scoring leader.
Apart from playing for Phoenix Mercury, the 6-foot-9 star has also shown her exceptional hooping skills for the Russian team UMMC Ekaterinburg during the WNBA's offseason since 2015. If you are wondering, what was she doing in Russia, Griner was one of the several WNBA players who had joined the Russian Women's Basketball Premier League this winter.
Why was Brittney Griner arrested?
According to TMZ, customs released a surveillance video on Saturday, March 5 where Griner was spotting wearing a mask while going through the security check at the airport. In the clip, a security officer is seen removing a package from the player’s bag. According to a statement from Russian Customs, Griner was flying from New York to Russia. It was reported that a drug dog apparently sniffed her carry-on bag and soon vapes were found leading her to arrest.
Speaking on the matter, Lindsay Kagawa Colas, Griner's agent with Wasserman Group told ESPN in a statement, “We are aware of the situation with Brittney Griner in Russia and are in close contact with her, her legal representation in Russia, her family, her teams, and the WNBA and NBA” adding, “As this is an ongoing legal matter, we are not able to comment further on the specifics of her case but can confirm that as we work to get her home, her mental and physical health remain our primary concern."