Question: What's the Deal With the Virgin Mary Statues?
The Virgin Mary statues were first introduced in Episode 1x19, Deus Ex Machina.
Answer: The Virgin Mary statues are first found by Boone when he climbs into the small plane that Locke saw in a dream. Inside the statues are baggies of heroin. The plane falls, with Boone in it, causing injuries that lead to Boone's death (Ep: 1x19, Deus Ex Machina).
After Claire is abducted and Charlie and Sayid look for her in the jungle, Sayid, not knowing of Charlie's addiction, tells him that there is heroin in the small plane (Ep: 1x24, Exodus Part 2).
Charlie has a Virgin Mary statue and Eko wants to see it and then wants Charlie to take him to the plane. The Virgin Mary statues were originally bought by Eko to transfer drugs, but instead of Eko getting on the plane, his brother did and Eko became a priest (Ep: 2x10, The 23rd Psalm).
