Monday, July 14, 2008

Billionaire Tetra Pak heir and wife charged with smuggling crack cocaine and heroin into US Embassy

The heir to the £5.4billion Tetra Pak packaging empire and his wife have been charged with possessing crack cocaine and heroin.

Hans Kristian Rausing and his wife Eva were arrested after she allegedly tried to smuggle small wraps of the drugs into the American Embassy in London.

It is believed she was visiting the embassy to arrange the renewal of her U.S. passport when guards made the discovery.

The 44-year-old daughter of a wealthy Pepsi-Cola executive was taken to Charing Cross police station for questioning while officers searched the couple's £5million Georgian townhouse in Chelsea.

Officers reportedly discovered a £2,000 drug stash at the five-storey home and Rausing, 45, was also arrested on suspicion of possessing class A drugs.

Scotland Yard announced that both husband and wife have been charged and bailed to appear in court later this month.

Hans Kristian and wife Eva have battled drug addiction in the past

Speaking after her arrest, the mother of four said: 'I have made a serious mistake which I very much regret.

'I have made a grave error and consider myself to have taken a wrong turn in the course of my life.

'I am very sorry for the upset I have caused. I intend to leave as soon as possible-to seek the help that I very much need.

'I am ashamed of my actions. I hope in due course to get back on track to become the person I truly want to be.'

The couple are known to have battled drug addiction in the past. They met at an addiction clinic in the U.S. and went on to marry and have four children.

Rausing's Swedish father, also called Hans, built up the Tetra Pak carton business with his late brother Gad, to whom he sold the business in 1998 for £4billion.

Dr Rausing has a 3,000-acre country house in Wadhurst, East Sussex. He is said to be worth around £5.4billion, making him Britain's seventh-richest man.

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