British teenage girl and Irish friend arrested in Peru after 'being caught smuggling

foolsgold

foolsgold

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By Natalie Evans 28 Comments
British teenage girl and Irish friend arrested in Peru after 'being caught smuggling cocaine worth £1.5million'
10 Aug 2013 10:50
Melissa Reid, 19, was held at an airport in Lima with Irish national Michaella McCollum Connolly, 20, as they tried to board a plane bound for Spain

A British teenager has been arrested in Peru after she was allegedly caught trying to smuggle £1.5million worth of cocaine with a friend.

Melissa Reid, 19, was held at an airport in Lima with Irish national Michaella McCollum Connolly, 20, as they tried to board a plane bound for Spain.

Police say the women were found to have more than 11kg of the class-A drug packed inside 32 food parcels, the Irish Independent reported.

Michaella - whose family had feared she was missing in Ibiza - and Melissa could face up to 25 years in jail if found guilty of the offence.

The pair are being held in Santa Monica Prison after being intercepted as they tried to travel to Madrid, where they were due to catch a connecting flight to Majorca.

The Foreign Office in London confirmed it was helping a British national.

"We are aware of the arrest of a British national in Peru this week and are providing consular assistance," a spokeswoman said.


Details of the arrests were published on the official website of the National Police of Peru on Wednesday.

The pair were held by drug enforcement officers at an Air Europa counter at Jorge Chavez International Airport on Tuesday.

In a statement, police claim the women were found to have 11kg 590g of cocaine after their bags were searched by DIRANRO officer, Peru’s Anti-Drug Bureau.

Ms Reid, who moved to Ibiza from Glasgow in June for the summer to work in bars with friends, was allegedly found to have 18 packets containing an edible product of cocaine alkaloid weighing 5.780kg.

After news of her arrest emerged, her father, William, 66, said: We are trying to come to terms with it and don't know anything."

Ms McCollum Connolly is suspected of carrying 16 envelopes containing an edible product of cocaine alkaloid weighing 5.810kg in her luggage.

The 20-year-old was reported missing by her family after not hearing from her for 12 days.

An online campaign was launched to try and find the nightclub hostess, who had been working in Ibiza.



Check out all the latest News, Sport & Celeb gossip at Mirror.co.uk http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/british-teenage-girl-irish-friend-2148310#ixzz2bbgLIBfG
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A 19 and a 20 yr old with 11kg's of coke? Damn. There must be a fair bit more to this story, no way would they have sourced and afforded that without some serious help or being forced somehow or tricked. I guess they are lucky it was to Peru and not Indo tho where'd they'd probably face death.
 
Well it is deffo suspicious.Planning to fly to Madrid then get another flight to Majorca.
From Majorca you can catch a ferry to Ibiza,we all know how that island is flooded with drugs for the holiday season.
As one of them was already working in Ibiza before going to Peru,it's not beyond the realms of possibility that they were paid or perhaps forced to go to Peru to bring the cocaine back to Ibiza so someone can make a tasty profit this summer.
 
Oh geez. I couldn't imagine going to jail in that shithole of a country. I'd rather fight to the death than face possible jail time in that shithole.
Prepare the anus for anal rape with no lube.
God have mercy on these poor souls.
 
JunkieDays said:
Oh geez. I couldn't imagine going to jail in that shithole of a country. I'd rather fight to the death than face possible jail time in that shithole.
Prepare the anus for anal rape with no lube.
God have mercy on these poor souls.
Click to expand...

lol what's so bad about Peru?
 
foolsgold said:
Ms McCollum Connolly is suspected of carrying 16 envelopes containing an edible product of cocaine alkaloid weighing 5.810kg in her luggage.
Click to expand...

^^^An edible product of cocaine alkaloid??? What the fuck are they talking about? Are the cartels making cocaine candy bars now or something?
 
When I was in Ibiza I got asked by my dealer to go to Peru and bring back some Coke for £10,000, You have to be stupid, girls must have been easily lead (or desperate for the money.)


I rememeber seeing the appeal that she was missing and asking where she was.

Theres nothing more to the story, carring 11kgs..yeah they were just mules.
 
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Yeah if they were already owing lots of money in Ibiza and couldn't see any way out of it and were being threatened maybe they thought they could pay back any money they might have owed and made a tidy profit by doing this 'little' job. Good way to fuck up a good chunk of your life.

This also brings back a memory of this article from a year ago which has some good vid on the site -

Australia's unknown Schapelle

In a crowded prison in Peru, a young Australian sits singing songs about freedom.

27-year-old Bronwyn Kay Atheron is four years into a 14-year sentence for drug trafficking after she was busted at Lima airport with a suitcase full of cocaine.

Peru has overtaken Colombia as the number one exporter of cocaine worldwide. Much of the cocaine that comes into the United States, Europe and now Australia is being directly attributed to the mountains of Peru.

Sunday Night travelled to Lima’s Santa Monica Prison to meet this young Australian woman whose troubled life drew her into the deadly international drug trade.

Unlike Schapelle Corby’s much publicised plight, Bronwyn’s story has never been told. In interviews in prison with Sunday Night’s Mike Willesee, Bronwyn told of the cartel who hired her, set her up, then betrayed her. She was a drug mule sacrificed so a more lucrative shipment could be smuggled through safely.

Born in Cowra, Central NSW, Bronwyn said she suffered sexual abuse as a child and left home at the age of 16. A year later she gave birth to a baby boy called Shamaya.

”He really was an angel. I breast fed him two and a half years and I woke up every morning to his beautiful smile and his shiny eyes,” she said.

While in the care of his father, Bronwyn’s then-three-year-old son suffered a constricted bowel and died suddenly.

“I’m not saying that everyone that has bad things happen to them are going to end up in jail, but it’s like I was on the path of destruction because I was messed up and I was broken and because I needed love,” she told Willesee.

A few months later Bronwyn was raped. Six months after that she was diagnosed with HIV.

“I lost hope in my life…What more bad can actually happen to me? I was all messed up.”

In a bid to escape her problems, Bronwyn left Australia, and in a café in Pretoria, South Africa, she was befriended by members of a Nigerian drug syndicate.

“In under a year my son had died, I got raped and found out I had HIV. That’s the most full-on stuff that can happen to you; of course I could easily make the worst decision of my life.”

In the overcrowded prison Bronwyn shares a tiny cell measuring three metres square with three other women. During one of Sunday Night’s visits, we watched her sing as part of a choir in the courtyard, alongside best friend Deidre – a Canadian also jailed for cocaine smuggling.

Bronwyn looked well enough and put on a brave front, but her 14-year jail term may be a death sentence because of difficulties getting access to the HIV medications she needs to stay healthy.

Sunday Night put Bronwyn in touch with Dr Emilia Fishman, a highly regarded lawyer who’s now appealing for clemency and is confident she can at least secure a reduction of her sentence.

Sadly, Bronwyn’s story is not unique. Each year, hundreds of foreigners are arrested in Peru for drug offences. In January this year an Australian man died at Lima Airport when cocaine leaked in his stomach.

Supporters of Bronwyn's plight have set up a website and a Facebook group for those who'd like to write to her or offer help.

http://au.news.yahoo.com/sunday-night/features/article/-/14437155/australias-unknown-schapelle/
 
"Ms McCollum Connolly is suspected of carrying 16 envelopes containing an edible product of cocaine alkaloid weighing 5.810kg in her luggage."

In Peru they have coca tea, coca butter, coca honey, coca candy, etc.
 
From Ibiza to Peru: How gangs turn innocent young girls into drug mules

The gangs at first target young people handing out leaflets advertising the hundreds of clubs on the island
Click to expand...

Drug gangs infest the party world of Ibiza, turning innocent young girls into drug mules with the promise of massive financial rewards and all-expenses-paid holidays abroad.

The gangs at first target young people handing out leaflets advertising the hundreds of clubs on the island.

These pavement PR staff often then become a front for ecstasy and cocaine dealers as clubbers looking for a quick fix use them to get directions for where to buy their drugs.

Some of the gangs then take their shady recruitment process one step further by persuading youngsters to smuggle drugs in return for cash to fund their partying.

The mules are persuaded to fly abroad - often to South America - and return to Spain posing as holidaymakers.

Many of them end up being arrested and languishing in cells thousands of miles away from home.

Peru is the single largest producer and exporter of cocaine in the world, producing 325 tons each year from nearly 140,000 acres of land planted with coca.

This accounts for 36% of the world's cocaine and production has shot up by 40% so far this century - overtaking the previous famous "market leader" Colombia.

Most of the cocaine makes its way to Brazilian and European markets, earning organised crime gangs in Peru more than £1billion a year.

The street price of cocaine varies wildly across the globe.

In Peru, close to the source of production, one gram costs just £3.

In the UK this rises to around £(removed) and in the US a gram of cocaine costs around €(removed) per gram.

The most lucrative cocaine market in the world is Australia where one gram costs nearly £(removed).

Peru has the second highest rate in the world for arrest charges on people suspected of transporting drugs.

A total of 248 people, or drug mules, were arrested at Lima's Jorge Chavez international airport in 2012.

Nearly 1,600 kilos of the illegal drugs, mainly cocaine, was confiscated from the drug mules arrested.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/ibiza-peru-how-gangs-turn-2155186
 
Cocaine bust Michaella and her pal haven't eaten for a week in hell-hole Peruvian jail

The Mirror was prevented from seeing them at their holding cells in Lima but a guard described them as “terrified and emotional”
Click to expand...

Irish nightclub hostess Michaella McCollum Connolly and her pal are said to be living in fear in a “hell-hole” jail.

Belfast girl Michaella, 20, and British Melissa Reid, 19, are said to be too distraught to eat and constantly in tears after repeatedly protesting their innocence.

The pair have been held separately in maximum security cells under heavy armed guard since being arrested last Tuesday.

The heightened security follows claims the girls may have been forced to carry the drugs for a ruthless South American cartel.

Our reporter was prevented from seeing Michaella and Melissa after tracking them down to their holding cells in Lima.

But a guard described them as “terrified and emotional”.

He said: “Ever since they arrived both have refused to eat or drink. They have starved themselves while saying they are innocent.

“They have remained in their cells and just smoke cigarettes. Between them they have little in the way of possessions but for legal reasons they are being kept apart.

“We take drug smuggling very seriously here in Peru and foreigners are treated just like anyone else.”

The guard added: “No one has been to see them and so they have been left to reflect on what they are accused of. We have had no contact here from family or friends.

“They have repeatedly insisted on their innocence but that is for the courts to decide.

“One of the them has said her cell is like being in hell but if they are found guilty they will see what hell is really like.”

Asked how the girls were bearing up he replied: “One has gone to pieces. She is hysterical.

"She just keeps crying, saying there has been a huge mistake. They are both starting to realise just how serious this is.”

The close pals were arrested at Lima airport as they checked in for a flight to Spain.

Police said they found more than 11kg of the Class A drug in their suitcases.

Yesterday 12 guards dressed in military fatigues and armed with automatic assaults rifles and handguns patrolled the perimeter of the building. Inside a further 10 officers stood watch over the entrance to their cell wing.

Michael Russell, a retired Consul General in Lima, said the girls could face up to 25 years behind bars if found guilty, possibly at Lima’s notorious Santa Monica de Chorrillos prison.

He said: “The jails are pretty dour and horrible. It’s all a matter of money. You have to buy your space and food.

"If you don’t have money you suffer quite a lot.”

The severity of any sentence would relate to the size of the drugs haul.

If the pair were each convicted of the amount allegedly found in their own luggage, they could face seven years.

But if one was found guilty of being responsible for the entire haul she could be jailed for between 15 and 25 years.

Ex-Irish diplomat Mr Russell said Melissa was likely to be allocated a lawyer by the Peruvian authorities if she didn’t have the money to pay for one, but that the state appointee was “not always the best”, and may not even speak English.

He added that another potential hurdle was the competence of State appointed translators.

Michaella, a photography student from Belfast had gone to San Antonio in Ibiza in June on a working holiday and was looking for work as a dancer and nightclub hostess.

Melissa, from Lenzie, Scotland, a former sales adviser at Scottish and Southern Energy in Glasgow, also flew to Ibiza in June.

They were detained at Peru’s Jorge Chavez International airport as they tried to board a flight to Palma Mallorca via Madrid.

Melissa’s father William, 66, said: “We don’t know anything and haven’t been told anything.

"We don’t have any new information and are not in a position to elaborate. We are just trying to come to terms with it.”

Melissa is accused of having 18 packets of cocaine, weighing 5.7kg, while Michaella is said to have been found with 16 envelopes of the drug, a total of 5.8kg.

Although originally built to hold 230 inmates, Santa Monica de Chorrillos women’s prison houses many more, including some of the inmates’ children. The cramped jail, surrounded by high walls, has no running water and often no electricity.

Drugs are rife and food is said to be rationed to rice three times a day.

Michaella, originally from Dungannon, had been living and studying in Belfast before leaving for the party island to work as a club hostess.

Her anxious family feared her missing in the past fortnight and appealed for information through Facebook.

But police in Ibiza have claimed they had no knowledge of her being reported missing.

After arriving in Ibiza Melissa had uploaded almost 300 photos of herself and her friends.

But there have been no updates in almost two weeks.

It is not known when Melissa and Michaella made the trip to Peru.

A friend of Melissa said: “No one knew she was even there. We thought she was in Ibiza and can’t believe this.”

There are around 1,000 foreigners locked up in Peru, 90% of them for drug trafficking.

The country is one the world’s top three producers of cocaine, alongside Colombia and Bolivia.

Because of historic ties to Latin America, Spain and the Iberian peninsula it is a key gateway for the cocaine trade in Europe.

And at least 30% of Britain’s cocaine comes via Spain.

Each summer Spain’s holiday islands are awash with millions of pounds of the drug.

Much of it is smuggled in by gullible “mules”, recruited by agents working for South American gangs.

The smugglers, often British, are promised a free holiday in countries including Peru, Bolivia, Columbia or Mexico, together with up to €12,000 for filling their suitcase, or more dangerously, their bodies with drugs.

The cartels prefer to use young good-looking European women, believing they are less likely to attract the attention of the authorities.

Tightening border controls in North America, and the fall in cocaine use in the States, have forced the drug producers to search for new markets.

And Spanish resorts, filled with young clubbers from around the world, are prime targets for dealers.

The euro has even overtaken the dollar as the preferred currency for the underworld bosses who control the drug trade.

Gangs have even been known to hide drugs inside the bodies of dogs. Last month 48 animals were slaughtered for their “cargo” after arriving in Italy.

Customs officers in Spain have also found drugs stashed inside nappies being worn by babies.

Each year half a million people leave the UK to holiday in Ibiza, and many of them are fuelling the international cocaine trade – almost all of it smuggled in from South America.

In June 11 members of a British-led drugs trafficking gang in Ibiza were sentenced to a total of 32 years in jail.

Some of the cocaine snorted in Ibiza also arrives via Africa, where customs and border controls are not as tight as in Europe.

A website statement by the Peruvian police last night confirmed the girls’ arrest on suspicion of smuggling more than 11kg of cocaine.

It said the drugs were allegedly hidden in food products.

Seduced by party island drug barons
Drug gangs infest the party world of Ibiza, turning innocent young girls into drug mules with the promise of massive financial rewards and all-expenses-paid holidays abroad.

The gangs at first target young people handing out leaflets advertising the hundreds of clubs on the island.

These pavement PR staff often then become a front for ecstasy and cocaine dealers as clubbers looking for a quick fix use them to get directions for where to buy their drugs.

Some of the gangs then take their shady recruitment process one step further by persuading youngsters to smuggle drugs in return for cash to fund their partying.

The mules are persuaded to fly abroad – often to South America – and return to Spain posing as holidaymakers.

Many of them end up being arrested and languishing in cells thousands of miles away from home.

Peru is the single largest producer and exporter of cocaine in the world, producing 325 tons each year from nearly 140,000 acres of land planted with coca.

This accounts for 36% of the world’s cocaine and production has shot up by 40% so far this century – overtaking the previous famous “market leader” Colombia.

Most of the cocaine makes its way to Brazilian and European markets, earning organised crime gangs in Peru more than £1billion a year.

The street price of cocaine varies wildly across the globe.

In Peru, close to the source of production, one gram costs just €(removed).

The most lucrative cocaine market in the world is Australia where one gram costs nearly €(removed).

Peru has the second highest rate in the world for arrest charges on people suspected of transporting drugs.

A total of 248 people, or drug mules, were arrested at Lima’s Jorge Chavez international airport in 2012.

Nearly 1,600 kilos of the illegal drugs, mainly cocaine, was confiscated from the drug mules arrested.

http://www.irishmirror.ie/news/world-news/irish-woman-accused-smuggling-cocaine-2154547
 
“In under a year my son had died, I got raped and found out I had HIV. That’s the most full-on stuff that can happen to you; of course I could easily make the worst decision of my life.”
Click to expand...

It is amazing that she managed to live through that, period. Some people would have just given up.
So, yes, I can easily imagine that if such terrible things happened to me, I might make some bad decisions, too.
 
And she was sexually abused as a child. Such a sad story, I hope she does get a reduction in her sentence and finds some happiness in her life for however long she has left. Did you watch the 2 part video on her?
 
Just £8,000 each they were given, and 2 weeks all inclusive in Peru, so silly. For what, almost 11kgs of Cocaine, retail maybe £0.5m?? Pennies to these guys, anyone seen the customs video? The packaging was hardly a work of art, hopefully they will get only small sentences, should be out in just a few years. IF all the cocaine though is put onto one person I think they have like a minimum sentencing policy of 15 or so years.
 
Why would they only get short sentences of a few yrs for nearly 6 kg's of coke each? Doesn't seem like much of a deterrent for others.
 
Poor girls? Or just plain stupid?
If someone did indeed pay for them to fly to Peru for a while and bring some packages back for them do you really think the girls didn't know what they were up to and the risk they were running?
Naturally I do feel sorry for them but if they knew the risks & still chose to do it then they must expect that countrys law to be applied to them.
If they were somehow forced to do it and held captive by a gang in Peru and then had the coke stuffed into their suitcases then that is entirely different.
If they chose to do it though then they played the odds & lost.
 
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