UK women arrested in Peru on drug smuggling charges

[Vikrant]

Two UK women arrested in Peru on suspicion of drugs smuggling have arrived at court to find out what charges they will face.

Michaella McCollum, from Dungannon, and Melissa Reid, from Lenzie near Glasgow, both 20, are accused of trying to smuggle 11kg (24lb) of cocaine.

The pair were stopped while trying to board a flight to Madrid two weeks ago.

BBC News - Peru drugs case: UK women arrive in court

 

[bianco]

They are someone's British children, and as such are entitled to the protection of the flag, and support of the govt and the British People in what lies ahead for them.
No doubt in my mind that if their story is not exctly true, that they were indeed used, abused, and tricked by thugs from the drug cartels.

"Banged Up Abroad" has exposed what really goes on in Peru.
It showed how cartel crooks are working in the airports, including smiling women who are part of setting up the mules for sacrifice.
It showed the horrors of what awaits these girls in their prisons...bashings by other women, and raping.
Organised escape plots, doublecrossing, ...the girls hidden in a wagon of hay, then run thru with pitchforks in a search.
Luckily, the low self esteem overweight girl drug mule from the Bronx, who was going to use the money to pay for a lifestyle improvement course to try and find a job, 'chickened out' and was not turned into swiss cheese.

Yes, the Peruvian customs and justice system can be seen very clearly.
They did however release the girl from the Bronx some years before they really had to.

________________________________________________________
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How it happens.
Naive girls, handsome young guys, free holiday, free shopping, lovely beaches, sunny days, paradise.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvSGY69XnX4]Locked Up Abroad PERU - YouTube[/ame]
Locked Up Abroad PERU

Two teenage prom queens are promised a luxury holiday in Peru. Instead, they find themselves facing six years in one of the world's worst prisons. Jennifer Davis, a prom queen from a strict religious family in Illinois, is just 19 when she moves to California, dreaming of a modeling career.
She meets 18 year old Krista Barnes on her first day there, and they instantly became best friends. They look forward to a fun-packed year living together in their Californian beach house, away from the overbearing presence of their strict dads for the first time (one was a prison warden, the other a police officer).
They've only been roommates for three weeks when their landlord introduces them to a couple of good looking Peruvian lads who make them a life-changing proposition: an exotic, all-expense paid holiday to Peru in exchange for bringing back a bit of cocaine.

The Peruvians assure the squeaky clean girls - who didn't have so much as a parking ticket between them - there is no chance of getting caught, and that they'd each receive US$5,000 on their return. The girls think about it for a while, before agreeing. Setting out with guide books and sun-block, they couldn't imagine the nightmare ahead of them.

#####

Yes, out of their mouths in the video comes how and why they fell for it, hook line and sinker.
It can be anyone's children, in reality.

Innocent, trusting, believing everything the 'lovely and friendly' people told them.

The education systems in schools are totally lacking in life skills and real world horrors training.

 

[Vikrant]

We have two cases, in one case we have UK women voluntarily smuggling drugs, in another case we have two US women smuggling drugs. The latter claims that they did the smuggling under the duress. The duress angle is questionable. But we will grant them the benefit of doubt.

Neither of those two stories compel me to argue that Peru should stop enforcing its drug smuggling laws. Every country has drug smugglers. This does not mean that the entire country is complicit.

Will Australia stop enforcing its drug smuggling laws just because someone was forced to smuggle drugs into Australia under duress?

 

[waltky]

Somebody bein' paid off...

Peru military fails to act as narco planes fly freely
Oct 14,`15 -- It happens about four times a day, right under the nose of Peru's military: A small single-engine plane drops onto a dirt airstrip in the world's No. 1 coca-growing valley, delivers a bundle of cash, picks up more than 300 kilos of cocaine and flies to Bolivia.

Roughly half of Peru's cocaine exports have been ferried eastward on this "air bridge," police say, since the rugged Andean nation became the world's leading producer of the drug in 2012. Peru's government has barely impeded the airborne drug flow. Prosecutors, narcotics police, former military officers and current and former U.S. drug agents say that while corruption is rife in Peru, the narco-flight plague is the military's failure because it controls the remote jungle region known as the Apurimac, Ene and Mantaro river valley. Wilson Barrantes, a retired army general who has long complained about military drug corruption, said giving the military control over the valley is "like putting four street dogs to guard a plate of beefsteak."

Peruvian counternarcotics police blast a hole in a clandestine airstrip used by cocaine traffickers in Ciudad Constitucion, Peru. President Ollanta Humala points to the cratering of these landing strips more than 550 times as part of the country's success against the drug trade. Traffickers quickly fill the holes using local labor, police say.​

Deputy Defense Minister Ivan Vega, who runs counterinsurgency efforts in the region, said that he was not aware of any military officials under investigation. "Corruption exists, but we are always looking out for it," he said. "If we know of anyone involved, we'll throw the book at them." But an Associated Press investigation found that "narco planes" have been loaded with drugs at landing strips just minutes by air from military bases in the remote, nearly road-less valley where about two-thirds of Peru's cocaine originates. Videos obtained by AP show small planes landing on clandestine air strips in the jungle region, about the size of Ireland. Elite squads of narcotics police hidden on nearby hilltops videotaped the landings, but were too outgunned to intervene, said two narcotics police officers who provided the videos but declined to speak on the record for fear of losing their jobs. Cocaine regularly disappears aloft in Cessna 206 planeloads, each worth upward of $7.2 million overseas.

The operations normally last about 10 minutes, usually just after dawn and tightly choreographed: A dozen or so cocaine-laden backpackers appear on a landing strip's fringe as the GPS-guided plane, its pilot having broken radio silence a few minutes earlier, approaches. Men with assault rifles guard the strip. Money is offloaded, drugs are jammed into the cabin. The motor re-engages. The plane departs. One pilot told the AP that some local military officers charge $10,000 per flight to allow the planes to land and take off unbothered. Concern over the flights spurred Peru's congress to pass a law in August that authorizes shooting down drug planes. But critics say the government lacks the will to do the job, having inexplicably scrapped plans to buy and install the necessary state-of-the-art radar.

MORE PERU'S DRUG WAR: "DISTORTED, INCOHERENT AND INERT"

 

[anotherlife]

Which Latino guy did these two fall for during their vacation, to such a degree that they are eager to go to jail for him?

 

[waltky]

Peru launches investigation into military drug corruption...

Peru announces probe after AP drug plane report
Oct 14,`15 -- Peru's defense minister announced Wednesday an investigation into allegations of military corruption in the world's No. 1 cocaine-producing valley after The Associated Press reported that the armed forces turned a blind eye to the ferrying of cocaine abroad by small planes.

The official, Jakke Valakivi, said the defense ministry and the joint armed forces command would investigate together. Peru's armed forces have failed to effectively impede an "air bridge" that has delivered more than ton of cocaine a day to Bolivia in flights that stepped up in tempo in the past few years, according to prosecutors, drug police, former military officers and current and former U.S. drug agents. In part because of the nearly unhindered "air bridge" from the Apurimac, Ene and Mantaro river valley, Peru surpassed Colombia in 2012 as the world's No. 1 cocaine exporter. Police say the airborne flow accounts for roughly half of its production, with each planeload worth at least $7.2 million overseas.

A military attack helicopter flies over Pichari, Peru in the Apurimac, Ene and Mantaro river valley, or VRAEM. It is the world's No. 1 coca-growing region. Roughly half of Peru’s cocaine exports have been ferried eastward, police say, since the rugged Andean nation became the world’s leading producer of the drug in 2012.​

The trafficking got so brazen that congress voted unanimously in August to authorize shooting down the single-engine planes. But the government this year inexplicably scrapped plans to buy the required state-of-the-art radar, a $71 million expenditure it announced last November. President Ollanta Humala has just eight months left in office - and an approval rating below 15 percent. The "narco planes" have touched down just minutes by air from military bases in the nearly road-less region known by its Spanish acronym as the VRAEM. About four times a day, they drop onto dirt airstrips, deliver cash and pick up more than 300 kilograms (660 pounds) of partially refined cocaine, police say.

The AP obtained video of two such transactions taken by drug police who said they were too outgunned by assault rifle-wielding sentinels to intervene. Wilson Barrantes, a retired army general who has long complained about military drug corruption, said giving the armed forces control of the cocaine-producing valley is "like putting four street dogs to guard a plate of beefsteak." One accused narco-pilot interviewed by the AP said some local military commanders charge $10,000 per flight to let cocaine commerce go unhindered. Prior to publication, the AP repeatedly requested interviews with Valakivi, armed forces commander and air force to discuss the issue. None responded.

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