A beauty queen who bid to become has been arrested in a police drugs bust.
Martina Oliva was held near to a northernwith her alleged gang leader boyfriend, aged 29, and a second woman. The 23-year-old, a former Miss Oran who used her title as the prettiest woman in the city in the province of Salta she hails from to try to become Miss Universe, has been remanded in prison pending an ongoing criminal probe.
Initial reports said Martina, who regularly posts videos to her 5,000 TikTok followers and has nearly 12,000 fans, was discovered with 22 kilos of cocaine in her youngest daughter’s rucksack. Officials subsequently confirmed they had confiscated 15 kilos of cannabis resin and arrested three people including Martina and her partner Gustavo Tolaba, nicknamed ‘El Perro’ or ‘The Dog’, after intercepting a Toyota Hilux 4x4 on the outskirts of Salta.
A fourth man in a second vehicle, who was travelling behind them and threw cannabis parcels out of his window before crashing following a 110mph police chase, was also detained. Detectives made a fifth arrest after raiding two properties including Martina’s boyfriend home where they found more drugs, a money counter machine and balancing scales.
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The Argentinian beauty, who had still continued to model after giving up on her dream of becoming Miss Universe and also has a business selling handbags and lingerie, has been warned she faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted. She has been charged with transporting drugs within the framework of a criminal organisation.
Police say the gang Martina allegedly formed part of is suspected of acquiring drugs in Aguas Blancas on ’s border with Bolivia which were subsequently sold on the streets of the provincial capital Salta after being first taken to Oran. Detectives launched the investigation which led to the arrests in November last year after a tip-off.
They are understood to have evidence pointing to the drugs gang making at least 34 trips from Oran to Salta along different routes to avoid police controls. Their profits from the drugs trade have been described locally as being in the “six-figures.” Prosecutors are understood to have gathered evidence from phone taps, CCTV footage and mobile phone triangulation. Further arrests have not been ruled out.
Martina’s online posts show she was a huge fan of reggaeton and video selfies. One of the recent videos she posted on TikTok showed her loading a motorbike into the back of a 4x4 alongside the message: “Thank you God. What a lovely way of starting 2025.”
She had told fans hours before her arrest she would be travelling from Salta airport in a trip which was ended with her detention.
Late last month a Bolivian former beauty queen was arrested in Argentina after nearly £12 million worth of cocaine was found in her light aircraft when it ran out of fuel and had to make an emergency landing. Jade Callau was taken into custody along with the pilot after cops found a whopping 350 kilos of the class-A drug on board following the pair's botched attempt to escape the scene on foot.
The 21-year-old had participated in several beauty contests in Bolivia and made a number of TV appearances. In 2019 she was crowned Miss FexpoBorja, a beauty contest in her native town of San Borja in the Beni region around 220 miles from the Bolivian capital La Paz.
In August last year she had appeared on TV in the regional capital Trinidad. Callau and 42-year-old Carlos Costas Diaz, named locally as the Brazilian pilot of the Cessna 210, have been transferred to a prison near Buenos Aires which was reportedly the couple’s scheduled destination before they experienced fuel problems.
