AN Australian nurse has been arrested after allegedly trying to carry 3.2kg of heroin across the Swiss-Italian border.

Carly Emma Morris, 26, of Port Elliot in South Australia, risks 20 years in jail for alleged drug-trafficking after appearing in an Italian court this week.

She is pleading not guilty to the charges after Customs officials, alerted by sniffer dogs, inspected her luggage on a train from Switzerland to Como in northern Italy on Tuesday.

The director of the Chisasso International Customs office, Riccardo Carbone, yesterday said Ms Morris was awaiting trial in a Como prison after a brief hearing before a magistrate on Thursday.

Ms Morris's lawyer, Alessandro Premoli, yesterday said she had borrowed the suitcase from a friend in The Netherlands and had no idea it contained the drugs. "The luggage was given to her because hers was broken," he told The Weekend Australian.

Mr Premoli said Ms Morris could be in prison for two months until her next court appearance.