Nawal Msaad, a 27-year-old human resources student at the London Metropolitan University, was detained at the Heathrow airport on January 16 for trying to smuggle $28,940 in her underwear for jihadist fighters in Syria. She attempted to board a British Airways flight to Istanbul.
Msaad and her friend Amal El- Wahabi appeared at the Old Bailey on Tuesday where they were both accused of supporting and funding terrorism.
At the Heathrow airport, the north London resident told police that she was travelling to Turkey for short vacation and to buy some gold for her mother. When Msaad was searched in a private room, she handed over a bundle of banknotes to the officers from her knickers.
The money - $724 notes, four $290 notes and two $145 notes - was tightly rolled and wrapped in plastic.
"It would appear that the money may well have been further hidden inside her body, wrapped in a condom," Mark Dennis, QC for the prosecution, told the jury, The Australian reports.
Dennis said that Msaad was supposed to deliver the money to another person in Turkey and return to London two days later.
"She had been recruited to carry out his task on the promise of euros 1,000 ($1448) as a reward and the payment of her expenses," Dennis said.
Dennis said that the only way to enter Syria was through the land border with Turkey. This route is commonly accessed by those willing to either participate in the conflict or support it through supplies or funds.
