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

UK pair claim they were forced to try to smuggle drugs from Peru

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Lima, Peru: Video has emerged showing two young women, one Irish and the other British, being nervously interrogated after their detention at Lima's airport for allegedly trying to smuggle cocaine on a flight to Spain.

The British Embassy has identified them as 20-year-old Michaella McCollum Connolly and 19-year-old Melissa Reid and said it had offered consular assistance to both women after their arrest last week.

Press reports say drug-sniffing dogs found 24 pounds (11 kilograms) of cocaine in the women's luggage. The video shows a technician opening packets of white powder disguised as food.

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n the video, Reid says she was forced to take "these bags" in her luggage. She says she didn't know there were drugs inside them.
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More than 30 Britons are among dozens of foreigners in Peruvian prisons for drug smuggling.

The mother of McCollum Connolly, an Irish model, has spoken of her distress.

McCollum Connolly and Reid are due to appear in court on Wednesday accused of attempting to smuggle an estimated £1.5 million ($2.55 million) worth of cocaine out of South America.

The pair claim they were forced to carry bags in their luggage and were unaware they contained drugs.

On Tuesday, McCollum Connolly’s mother Nora McCollum said the situation was ‘‘terrible for everyone’’.

‘‘At the moment we don’t know anything. We don’t know what is happening at all,’’ she said.

The National Police of Peru said they found more than 10.8kg of cocaine hidden in food in the luggage of the two women.

Reid’s father William told reporters the family were going through a ‘‘living nightmare’’ and had not slept since they found out.

He said there was ‘‘no way’’ his daughter would have gone along willingly with a plan to smuggle drugs.

Last week, McCollum Connolly was at the centre of a social media appeal after her family said they had not had any contact with her for 12 days.

Reid’s mother, Debra, told reporters she thought her daughter was in Ibiza with friends and had no idea she had travelled to Peru until she was in police custody there.

Lead investigator Major Manuel Siclla told the Scottish Sun the women were OK, but worried.

‘‘Like anyone else involved drug smuggling, they will be tried and face long prison sentences if convicted,’’ he said.

‘‘We take this problem very seriously here in Peru and courts are very strict about the enforcement of the law.’’

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/uk-pair...s-from-peru-20130814-2rv19.html#ixzz2bskhKOtH
 
Peru Drugs Bust Pair Appear In Police Video

[video=youtube_share;UxIrzxf25IM]http://youtu.be/UxIrzxf25IM[/video]
 
So if you are not part of a criminal gang you are expected to get around 8 years in Peru for smuggling that amount, around 6kg each. If you admit a guilty plea you are given 6 years, with good behaviour Peru are letting prisoners out in 2 years. Chin up girls :)
 
How do you know this? Do you have any links?

They were obviously part of a criminal gang, or used by them as mules, and they are not admitting guilt at present, or they weren't in that video. 2 years seems like hardly any deterrent to stop others trying to do similar, here in Aus you can get alot more than 2 years for bringing in that amount of cocaine, a friend of a friend got nearly five years for 2.5 kg's.
 
I will link the article that states the law when I find it, they were just going off recent cases that people with good behaviour are being let out considerably earlier, its the same here in the UK. No previous? you will be lucky to serve even 1/3rd of your sentence depending on the severity of it. They were obviously mules, not "part" of a criminal gang.
 
Cool, fair enough, thanks. 2 years would still suck big time. That Australian girl I linked the story to back on page 1 got 14 years, but I think she had something like 15 kg's, and thought she was only carrying a heap less. They are trying to get her a reduction in her sentence now.

Peru pair 'forced to smuggle drugs'

Two British women caught with $US1.5 million ($A1.66 million) worth of cocaine in Peru say they had loaded guns held to their heads and were told to smuggle the drugs or die.
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Melissa Reid, 19, from Scotland and Michaella McCollum Connolly, 20, from Northern Ireland claim they were forced into trafficking by a Cockney criminal, who plucked them from the streets of Ibiza and had a dossier on their families.
The pair, who are being held at the maximum security Dirandro Police Station in the Peruvian capital say they feared they would be killed if they failed to carry out the demands.
In an interview with the Daily Mirror from the police holding centre in Lima, Reid told how the gang threatened their families and added that the pair had never even met before being sent to Peru by gangsters.
"We were given no option. If we didn't do as we were told we would be dead. We were not smuggling for money, we were smuggling for our lives.
"We have no doubt they would have killed us both without hesitation if we didn't do as we were told.
"We both had loaded guns put to our heads. They were more than prepared to use them. If we didn't do it we were told we would die."
The women told the paper they were robbed of their passports and mobile phones and followed by members of a violent drugs cartel on board the flights from Spain to Peru.
Once in South America they were ordered to carry the cocaine hidden inside food packets.
Reid said the men had information on their families, who would be threatened if they failed to comply.
They said the first time they met was after being kidnapped and taken to the cartel's safe house in Majorca.
The women are due to appear at a preliminary court hearing in Lima, but have yet to be formally questioned by Peruvian police.

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/world/2013/08/14/03/31/family-describe-drug-arrest-nightmare
 
Shit hadn't heard that side of their story, that they were kidnapped and forced with guns and the gang had details of their families.
 
If indeed that is true.
Isn't that what most mules say when caught smuggling drugs? Of course it can never be a case of greed and wanting some easy money?
I've seen episodes of the series 'Banged Up Abroad' where people that have been caught smuggling drugs have admitted eventually that they knew what they were getting in to but sometimes their contact will give them more to carry than they think they are getting.
Will be interesting to see if any part of this gang the girls are talking about are found & arrested.
 
Many women who get caught try to play the "I was forced to do it" card. I doubt their story.

I would be interested to know how much coke was in their blood stream. I wonder if they were missing because they were on a binge and made a deal to pack their suitcases for a nice pile of nose candy and some cash.
 
'Kidnapped' British and Irish women face 15 years' jail in Peru for trafficking 11kg of cocaine

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Two women, from Britain and Ireland, have appeared in a Peruvian court to face drug charges, in a case that has triggered sensational headlines in their homelands.

Twenty-year-old Michaella McCollum Connolly and 19-year-old Melissa Reid were arrested at Lima airport two weeks ago as they tried to board a flight to Spain carrying what Peruvian police said was 11 kilograms of cocaine.

Connolly had previously been reported missing from her job on the Spanish holiday island of Ibiza, and well-wishers had launched a large-scale internet campaign to find her.

After their arrest, the women told British reporters that they had been kidnapped by a drug cartel, taken to Peru and forced to transport drugs.

But the claim was met with widespread scepticism and the pair now face trafficking charges that could see them jailed for 15 years.

"They have left police custody and been handed over to state judicial authorities," colonel Tito Perez, head of the Peruvian police's anti-drug command, said.

The pair was led into the court in handcuffs, as photographers and Reid's British parents, who have flown out to support her, looked on.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-08-21/kidnapped-women-face-cocaine-rap-in-peru/4901850
 
Now BOTH Peru girls to admit smuggling cocaine: Second suspect expected to plead guilty in hope of six-year term (which could see them out within three)

The second British woman charged with drugs trafficking in Peru has indicated that she will plead guilty.
Michaella McCollum Connolly is expected to follow her co-accused Melissa Reid, who said on Friday that she will admit the crime.
The women, both 20, claimed they were kidnapped and forced at gunpoint to carry £1.5million worth of cocaine in their suitcases.
But Miss McCollum Connolly, from Dungannon, Northern Ireland, is set to admit she travelled from Ibiza to Peru intending to smuggle the drugs back to Spain.

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Plan to admit their guilt: Peru drugs mule Michaella McCollum Connolly (right) is expected to follow her co-accused Melissa Reid (left), who said on Friday that she will admit the crime
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'I'm guilty': Melissa Reid is escorted from a court appearance by Peruvian police. She is to admit attempting to smuggle cocaine after striking a deal that could see her walk free from prison in less than three years

Her change of heart comes after Miss Reid, from Lenzie, near Glasgow, confessed in the hope of serving less time in jail. The former sales assistant conceded that the authorities ‘do not believe we were forced’.
If the women plead guilty to drug smuggling when they appear in court next week, they could receive the minimum sentence of six years and eight months.
Prisoners in Peru who are given less than seven years are entitled to serve a reduced term. This means the Britons could walk free within two-and-a-half years.
Miss McCollum Connolly’s lawyer, Peter Madden, said: ‘I don’t know if she’s going to make a guilty plea next week, but it could happen.
‘Melissa Reid’s family have already urged her to plead guilty and Michaella is aware of the options available to her.’
At Virgen de Fatima jail in the capital Lima, Miss Reid said: ‘I do not want to be in jail until I’m 35 – I can’t get those years back.
‘Pleading guilty is going to enable me to get back to my family in Scotland sooner rather than later.’
If the women admit drug smuggling, it is believed prosecutors will drop their claim that they were paid to transport the cocaine.

Miss McCollum Connolly has dyed her black locks brown and had a striking bun for a court appearance last month.
The women are among the wealthier inmates who can buy treats such as sweets, crisps and chocolate from a food kiosk.
Fellow prisoners said the Britons were being treated ‘very well’ by inmates and staff because they were foreigners.
Paola Andrade, 56, in jail for attempted murder, added: ‘The girls look so young and innocent. I feel really bad for them because they seem so young.
‘I can only imagine how horrible it must be to be incarcerated so far away from home and your family.’


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...lead-guilty-hope-year-term.html#ixzz2fFyYVE9q
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The pair were stopped at Jorge Chávez International Airport in Lima as they tried to check in for an Air Europa flight to Madrid on August 6.
Officials found 11.5kg of the Class A drug in their luggage, hidden in 18 food packets.
Miss Reid said: ‘I am really scared about what I am about to do but I am also relieved that there could be a light at the end of the tunnel.
‘After a lot of thought and advice from my lawyer, I am going to go in front of the judge and admit I was in possession of the drugs and that I went to Peru to pick up drugs to take to Spain. I am willing to plead guilty to that.
‘I did it under duress. I still maintain that and I am glad I do not have to say I accepted money to do it. I will have a drugs conviction, which could cause me problems, but I am trying not to focus on that.’
Miss Reid has compared their jail to a ‘Brownie camp’ with barbed wire and admitted they spent hours styling their hair to pass the time.
 
Guess it is time to relax learn some Spanish and work on tattoos.

I was thinking their mule pimps probably told them “don't worry if you did get caught you could just tell them you were forced to do.” “No problemo”
/Reality Check
 
'I have prepared myself for the worst... that being 15 years': Prison diary reveals Peru Two's despair as hopes of lenient sentences fade despite guilty plea

The two British drug mules held in Peru face being handed 15-year sentences this week as their hopes of a more lenient jail term crumble.
Melissa Reid and Michaella McCollum Connolly, both 20, agreed to plead guilty to smuggling £1.5million’s worth of cocaine in the hope their term would be reduced to six years and eight months.
But with sentencing due to take place in a closed court in Lima on Tuesday, the girls’ lawyers have so far been unable to agree a plea bargain with prosecutors.
Melissa revealed her despair in a prison diary handed to The Mail on Sunday last night.

She wrote: ‘I have prepared myself for the worst . . . I think of how I will be in 15 years . . . and yes it does still scare me.
‘I would really like to have this over with by Christmas because the fear of the unknown makes me more anxious. I’ve been waiting four months already and the delays and changes are annoying.’
The diary displays Melissa’s fears about being transferred after sentencing to the prison Ancon 2.
It is miles from Lima, making it much harder for her family to see her.

She is also terrified that she will be separated from Michaella, with whom she has shared a cell since their arrest.
She added: ‘I am consistently aware of my immediate transfer to Ancon after my sentence and would much rather stay in [Virgen de] Fatima for the Christmas period because of the fear of the unknown in Ancon.
‘[It is] really far from Lima making visiting much more difficult for my family when they come and it’s over populated so I could possibly be separated from Michaella. (That’s something I have not prepared myself for).’

Melissa revealed her despair in a prison diary handed to The Mail on Sunday last night. She wrote: 'I have prepared myself for the worst... I think of how I will be in 15 years... and yes it does still scare me'
Melissa also claims her human rights have been abused. She says she and Michaella, from Dungannon, Northern Ireland, were kept in unbearable heat in the back of a prison van for a day without food, water, or use of a toilet.

Last night Melissa’s distraught family were praying for their daughter to receive the minimum sentence. Melissa’s father Billy said: ‘This is a really tense time for us – we’ve been told sentencing is going ahead on Tuesday. Melissa has done everything she can, we just have to hope and pray for the best now.’
'I would really like to have this over with by Christmas because the fear of the unknown makes me more anxious' - Extract from Melissa's prison diary

Writing from her cell, Melissa, from Lenzie, near Glasgow, also described her devastation at being told that under current Peruvian law she does not qualify for the benefits that allow some prisoners to get out after serving only a third of their sentence.
The girls had hoped that by working or studying they could use the privilege to cut a six-year jail term to just over two years.
She wrote: ‘All this time the idea was I would be sentenced to six years eight months but then serve a third of that if I worked or studied [in prison] – so roughly two years three months – but now I will have to serve the full sentence.

'She knows what she's put us through, but it's so hard leaving her': The agony of Melissa Reid's anguished mother after first visit to drug mule daughter's jail in Peru
‘I have never been someone to 100 per cent believe something someone tells me without evidence but of course being told I would be doing two years three months gave me somewhat of a rough guide when realistically it’s actually miles off what I will be doing.’
She added: ‘Apparently things regarding the law in Peru change so much that anything could happen. Who knows, the president might give a pardon and want all of the Europeans chucked out of Peru.’

Cont -

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...nient-sentences-fade-despite-guilty-plea.html
 
poledriver said:


The street price of cocaine varies wildly across the globe.

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

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Somebody is getting ripped off LOL A good friend of mine teaches English in Lima and she keeps me up to date on things. Current street price is low as $1USD and kilos can be easily be purchased for $500USD. It's also much better quality than the Colombian stuff. The quality and price make a strong temptation to smuggle. I don't know about the kilo prices but the gram price of around $1 hasn't changed much since I was in Peru 20 years ago.
 
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