Peru Drugs: Pair Set To Face Smuggling Charge

http://news.sky.com/story/1130797/peru-drugs-pair-set-to-face-smuggling-charge

Peru Drugs: Pair Set To Face Smuggling Charge
Michaella McCollum and Melissa Reid are handcuffed and driven to court where they are expected to be formally charged.

By Nick Martin, Sky Correspondent, in Peru
Two women accused of smuggling £1.5m worth of cocaine out of Peru are expected to be charged later.

They have been pictured handcuffed and being driven away for a court appearance.

Michaella McCollum, from Dungannon, County Tyrone, and Melissa Reid, from Lenzie near Glasgow, have spent the past two weeks in police custody.

The pair, both 20, were arrested earlier this month while trying to board a flight from Lima to Madrid.

Police said they found around 11kg of cocaine hidden inside food packages in their luggage.

Anti-drug officers say they have concluded their investigation into the case, which will now go before the public prosecutor's office.

The contents of that report will form the basis of any charges against the pair.

Ms McCollum and Ms Reid both deny the allegations and say they were forced to carry the drugs by a gang of Colombian drug traffickers who said they would hurt the women's families if they did not go through with the plan.

If charged, it is thought unlikely the pair would be granted bail because of the severity of the charges.

The women would instead be moved to a prison where it is believed they would be separated until a trial - which could take many months to be heard.

The pair's court hearing comes just a day after CCTV footage emerged which senior police officers claim shows Ms McCollum in the Peruvian capital on August 5 walking around freely - despite the women saying they were held at gunpoint on that day.

The police say the CCTV will form the basis of their case when it goes before the district prosecutor.

However, the lawyer acting for Ms McCollum, who is also known as Michaella McCollum Connolly, denied she was captured on the footage and sought to dispel newspaper reports he said were erroneous.

Peter Madden said: "She was not out shopping in Lima and spending a lot of money, that didn't happen."

"Michaella (McCollum) Connolly did not owe any money to any drugs dealer, she was not and is not involved in the drugs trade, she has no criminal record, she has never been in trouble with the police in her life."

William Reid, the father of her co-accused, also responded following the emergence of photographs that allegedly show them posing on a balcony and on a beach with glasses of beer days before they were arrested at Lima airport.

Mr Reid, who is in Lima, said: "I believe the trip to the beach was part of a set-up that they asked them to smile to build up a portrayal of them as happy holidaymakers.

"I can only go by what I have been firmly told by the girls. The two girls' stories are very tight, very consistent, with a lot of detail and they seem to be telling the truth, as far as I can gauge."

=========

Poor man; he must be about the only person in the country who believes this tosh.

My friends, this was taken from Sky News:

http://news.sky.com/story/1131237/peru-drugs-british-women-formally-charged

I am afraid I have no sympathy for drug smugglers, Pedro, and I don't believe their stupid story about being forced to do it.

bb1, I'm neither defending nor accusing the girls, but, have you considered that these girls can actually be telling the truth about it? that is a matter for police to investigate.

Somehow, their story does not ring true. There are ways to alert authorities to such things as they were caught doing.

I must say I find their story hard to believe. They had ample opportunity to ask for help. And they weren't exactly shrinking violets having been kicking around the Spanish Bar scene for some time.
But if they are convicted I don't expect them to spend long in a Peruvian jail. They will probably be sent home to Britain to serve most of their sentences.
And of course, the kidnap story is almost impossible to prove. Unless the drug dealer admits it, and he ain't going to do that.

From:

http://news.sky.com/story/1145993/peru-drugs-pair-plead-guilty-in-court

Two women accused of trying to smuggle £1.5m worth of cocaine out of Peru have pleaded guilty in front of a judge.

Melissa Reid, 20, and Michaella McCollum, also 20, were stopped with 11kg (24lb) of cocaine hidden in food packets in their luggage while trying to board a flight to Spain in August.

Reid, from Glasgow, and McCollum, from Dungannon, Co Tyrone, originally claimed they were forced to carry the drugs by an armed gang which threatened them and their family members.

The pair are being held in the notorious Virgen de Fatima prison in the Peruvian capital Lima.

Their U-turn means they will not have to stand trial on drug trafficking charges.

Instead, it is likely they will be sentenced to six years and eight months in jail at a hearing which could take place as early as next week.

A wise move, methinks.

Honestly, why do these people do this?

I know it's a different country, but did they never see Midnight Express? Different age I guess.....

Have they never watched Banged Up Abroad? Idiots. And no, I don't believe their silly story.

Neither does the prosecutor, looks like....from:

http://news.sky.com/story/1146481/peru-drugs-pairs-guilty-pleas-rejected

Peru Drugs Pair's Guilty Pleas Rejected
Peruvian prosecutors insist Michaella McCollum and Melissa Reid must accept full responsibility for charges levelled at them.

Carrying that amount of cocaine between them. What were they thinking?

They probably thought it was a great idea at the time to make a lot of money.  

Yup, I suspect the idea was to carry on with the Ibiza party scene without actually doing any work....

I can't say I've much sympathy, that poison spreads misery wherever it goes.

Bonny, I have zero sympathy personally. I just don't understand why they do it. Don't they see the dangers?

I guess not.