SALEM, Mass. — Police arrested a woman with a loaded handgun hidden in a purse pocket Tuesday as she sought to enter a courtroom during her boyfriend’s sentencing on drug and firearm charges.

Court security officers spotted a suspicious object in the woman’s purse during a routine X-ray machine scan of her handbag in the lobby of the local courthouse in this Boston suburb.

They pulled the purse from the conveyor belt, checked its contents and found a .40-caliber Smith and Wesson pistol, loaded with hollow-point bullets, in a pocket specifically designed to conceal the weapon.

Police identified the woman as Ashley Papatola, 29, of Londonderry, New Hampshire. They said she attempted to attend the sentencing of her boyfriend on charges of drug trafficking and possession of a gun and ammunition without a license.

The police report of her arrest quoted Papatola as saying she forgot the pistol was in her purse, and that she had a license to carry the firearm in New Hampshire.

“I swear I didn’t know it was in there,” she told police. “I really messed up.”

The Salem, New Hampshire, Police Department confirmed Papatola had been issued a permit to carry a concealed handgun in New Hampshire but not in Massachusetts.

Massachusetts authorities charged Papatola with carrying a loaded handgun without a license. They also initiated an investigation into the circumstances connected to her visit to the courthouse, including reviewing taped jailhouse phone conversations between Papatola and her boyfriend.

A judge ordered Papatola held without bail until the investigation is completed.