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XPost: sac.politics

WNBA All-Star and two-time Olympic champion Brittney Griner has been
detained in Russia for three weeks, after she was arrested for having vape cartridges in her luggage at a Moscow airport, according to Russian news sources and a former teammate.

Griner, 31, who won the WNBA championship in 2014 with the Phoenix Mercury
and played for a Russian team in the off season, faces 5 to 10 years in
Russian prison if convicted on drug smuggling charges.

“Brittney Griner is one of the biggest stars of the league and a
generational talent. This really is unsettling,” tweeted Khristina
Williams, who founded GirlsTalkSportsTV.

NFL alum Damien Woody also reacted to the news of Griner’s arrest.

“Brittney Griner has been detained for 3 weeks and we’re just hearing
about it now?” the former New York Jet tweeted.

Word of Griner’s arrest, which comes against the backdrop of Russia’s
invasion of Ukraine and crippling sanctions laid out against it by the
West, emerged Saturday.

Russia’s Interfax news agency reported a female US basketball player was arrested in February at Sheremetyevo Airport, just outside Moscow, after arriving on a flight from New York.

A drug-sniffing dog indicated narcotics in her luggage, and when the bag
was X-rayed, “so-called ‘vapes’ ” were discovered “with a specific odor,” according to Interfax, which cited the Russian Federal Customs Service.

“The expert found that the liquid is a narcotic drug cannabis oil (hashish oil),” Interfax said.

The independent Russian news Web site Lenta identified the player as
Griner.

Interfax said she was detained as a “preventive measure” against drug trafficking.

The report did not say exactly when Griner was arrested, but her Team USA teammate Angel McCoughtry wrote on Instagram that she’s been held for
three weeks.

“My homie been there for three weeks. Free her,” she wrote in a comment on
a post about Griner’s arrest.

Her team, the Phoenix Mercury, confirmed a “situation in Russia” without mentioning specifics.

“We are aware of and are closely monitoring the situation with Brittney
Griner in Russia,” the team said in a statement.

“We remain in constant contact with her family, her representation, the
WNBA and NBA. We love and support Brittney and at this time our main
concern is her safety, physical and mental health and her safe return
home.”

An edited video of what appears to be moments surrounding her arrest was
posted to Twitter.

In the clip, Griner places a wheeled suitcase into an airport screener,
then a man goes through a suitcase on a table on the opposite side of the screening machine.

The man is next shown rifling through paperwork set on the table, with
Griner sitting next to him on the table, her back to the camera. She
appears to sign some forms before the clip ends.

Griner hasn’t posted on her Instagram account since Feb. 5.

Calls to her wife, Cherelle Watson Griner, and her parents, Sandra and
Raymond Griner, were not immediately returned.

USA Basketball said in a statement that it is “aware of and closely
monitoring the legal situation facing Brittney Griner in Russia.”

“Brittney has always handled herself with the utmost professionalism
during her long tenure with USA Basketball and her safety and well being
are our primary concerns,” the organization said.

Griner has played during the WNBA off-season for the Russian team
Ekaterinburg in the Euroleague since 2015.

“We are aware of the situation in Russia concerning one of our members, Brittney Griner. Our utmost concern is BG’s safety and well-being. On
behalf of the 144, we send our love and support. We will continue to
closely monitor and look forward to her return to the US,” the WNBA said
in a statement.”

https://nypost.com/2022/03/05/all-star-brittney-griner-arrested-in-russia- on-drug-charges/

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