Sentenced to 40 days in jail after she was arrested with an alleged Ciudad Juarez drug cartel leader and a group of heavily-armed men, the Mexican beauty queen has now lost her title to a glamorous rival, Brazilian model Vivian Noronha.
Zuniga, 23, was stripped of her title this week after being jailed for crimes relating to drug trafficking and transporting weapons in mexico.
She was picked up at a military checkpoint in the western state of Jalisco last month while travelling with seven armed men in two vehicles carrying $US100,000 in cash, government sources said.
Zuniga was picked up along with boyfriend Angel Orlando Garcia Urquizar, one of the leaders of the Juarez Cartel.
The Juarez cartel is believed to be responsible for smuggling up to 20 per cent of all the cocaine consumed in the United States, for annual profits of $US660 million.
Zuniga was crowned Miss Sinaloa in July, and also won the Queen of Hispanic America contest in November in Bolivia.
At the time of the arrests, authorities said they found two AR-15 rifles, three pistols, 633 cartridges and 16 mobile phones along with the cash in the vehicles.
Garcia Urquizar's brother Ricardo, known as 'The Doctor', was also a top Juarez drug cartel operative until his arrest in 2005.
The group was "just coming to town. They came from different places and the young woman said that the money was for making purchases in Bolivia and Colombia," said Jalisco public security director Alejandro Solorio at the time of the arrest.
Zuniga is originally from Culiacan, the capital of Sinaloa, birthplace of one of Mexico's most powerful cartels.
According to La Jornada, a leading Mexican newspaper, more than a dozen lawyers have volunteered to defend her.
'Promociones Gloria, the company that created and is responsible for (the pageant) has dismissed Laura Zuniga as the official Hispanic America Queen 2008,' the organization said in a statement, according to La Paz daily La Razon.
She was to compete in the Miss International pageant next year.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon is battling powerful cartels in his country with soldiers and federal police.
Zuniga, 23, was stripped of her title this week after being jailed for crimes relating to drug trafficking and transporting weapons in mexico.
She was picked up at a military checkpoint in the western state of Jalisco last month while travelling with seven armed men in two vehicles carrying $US100,000 in cash, government sources said.
Zuniga was picked up along with boyfriend Angel Orlando Garcia Urquizar, one of the leaders of the Juarez Cartel.
The Juarez cartel is believed to be responsible for smuggling up to 20 per cent of all the cocaine consumed in the United States, for annual profits of $US660 million.
Zuniga was crowned Miss Sinaloa in July, and also won the Queen of Hispanic America contest in November in Bolivia.
At the time of the arrests, authorities said they found two AR-15 rifles, three pistols, 633 cartridges and 16 mobile phones along with the cash in the vehicles.
Garcia Urquizar's brother Ricardo, known as 'The Doctor', was also a top Juarez drug cartel operative until his arrest in 2005.
The group was "just coming to town. They came from different places and the young woman said that the money was for making purchases in Bolivia and Colombia," said Jalisco public security director Alejandro Solorio at the time of the arrest.
Zuniga is originally from Culiacan, the capital of Sinaloa, birthplace of one of Mexico's most powerful cartels.
According to La Jornada, a leading Mexican newspaper, more than a dozen lawyers have volunteered to defend her.
'Promociones Gloria, the company that created and is responsible for (the pageant) has dismissed Laura Zuniga as the official Hispanic America Queen 2008,' the organization said in a statement, according to La Paz daily La Razon.
She was to compete in the Miss International pageant next year.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon is battling powerful cartels in his country with soldiers and federal police.
Members of a gang arrested on December 22, 2008 in Jalisco, Sinaloa state, Mexico and led by the current Miss Sinaloa 2008 Laura Zuniga (CENTRE). She and another seven men were arrested while traveling with guns and around USD 100,000 dollars in cash in Zapopan, Jalisco state.
Miss Sinaloa Laura Zuniga (Centre) flanked by former Mexican Miss Universe Lupita Jones (R) and Miss World Mexico 2008 Perla Beltran (L) in a photograph in Mexico City.
Members of a gang arrested on December 22, 2008 in Jalisco, Sinaloa state, Mexico and led by the current Miss Sinaloa 2008 Laura Zuniga (CENTRE). She and another seven men were arrested while traveling with guns and around USD 100,000 dollars in cash in Zapopan, Jalisco state.
Brazilian model Vivian Noronha poses with her Miss Hispanoamerican crown in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2009. Noronha received the crown after Mexican model Laura Zuniga, who was detained Dec. 22 by police on suspicion of drug and weapons violations, was stripped of the title.
