Drug Trafficking

[KateLMead]

Do The two females accused of drug trafficking truly expect the public to be sympathetic... I could not believe that these females were referred to as Children!
I have no sympathy for them whatsoever, the photo's the mode of dress seen in the press did them no favours, they looked cheap and certainly did not look childlike. They were carrying a deadly substance that destroys lives and creates misery I hope they pay the price, undoubtedly the British government will fight for their freedom.. Let us hope the sentence they receive fits the crime.

[Workingman]

It does not look good for them.

Neither of their families knew they had gone to Peru, one was even reported as missing, and that will raise serious questions for the authorities about the purpose of the trip. The other was heard saying that she did not know what was in the bags they were carrying.

Innocent until proven guilty..........

[Suff]

There is a reason why the checkin staff ask if you packed the bags and if you have been asked to carry anything by someone else......

You don't fly to Peru and carry £1.5m in cocaine back and not know you are doing something illegal. Especially when you are supposed to be in Ibiza...

To be honest, if putting these girls in prison for 7 years will stop any more British girls from doing this, then it will be a punishment which has met it's goal. I know how the family must feel, but decisions in life have consequences. It's when it all goes wrong that you have to stand up and face the music.

The only possible defence they could offer is that they thought their lives were in danger if they did not carry out the courier role. It will be weak and they would have to prove it with more than words.

To be honest it doesn't look good for them. At least they are not facing 50 rounds of machine gun ammunition. That is a fate waiting for silly girls in other countries who carry this level of drugs.

At least Peru is not on the Capital Punishment for drugs trafficking list.

[debih]

Maybe they are telling the truth - who knows?

Yes, it seems very far fetched - being held at gunpoint and told they have to carry it. But then again, so does human trafficking, teenage girls in the UK being forced into prostitution and being kidnapped by pirates - and they all happen!

[KateLMead]

Mother says her little girl will be very upset, her 20th birthday is due and she had planned to go to a special night club to celebrate..
Enough said!!

[Kaz]

Kate, they all go to nightclubs, even my lovely B who is the best behaved teen I've ever known in my life (far far better than I ever was!) is going to one on Friday! I would imagine their families are so shocked they hardly know what they are saying at the moment............

I don't know what to think about this yet - if these girls knew what they were doing they have been silly and wicked, but it is within the realms of possibility that they did not, as Debih has pointed out, so I will follow this story and draw my own conclusions as it unfolds..................

[Suff]

Yes, it seems very far fetched - being held at gunpoint and told they have to carry it. But then again, so does human trafficking, teenage girls in the UK being forced into prostitution and being kidnapped by pirates - and they all happen!

Even IF and I do mean IF the girls were under duress, I doubt the authorities would accept the excuse that once they were in one of the safest places in the world (an airport), that they could not have simply told the check-in desk that they were probably carrying drugs. Very quietly. Then if anyone tried to take them away, scream like hell. There is no way gangsters would be caught holding weapons at an airport.

Whatever the circumstances I expect the Peruvian government to convict them if only to deter any others from not exposing this kind of coercion. Because, from their perspective, they can't afford to allow the gangs to operate in this way and they must make it worse for those being coerced if they don't expose the gang at the airport.

This won't have a happy ending and the girls should have known better.

[KateLMead]

Lost my last post.. Maybe as you say Kaz I should not be so quick to judge.. We shall see whether they expose the traffickers names, as Suff said they could have told the customs what was supposedly going on where they were safe from the traffickers, and that would have made their story and situation more plausible. I find it difficult to believe their story, as I did not believe the traffickers in Bali who had money enough to buy their way out of a lengthy sentence and the threat of being shot...
However I will try as stated not to be so judgmental .

[meriad]

100% agree with Suff.... if they were forced then they could (and should) have had a quiet word with customs and at that point started working with them which could maybe even have led to the people who 'forced' them be found out and arrested.

The fact that they at first said they didn't know they were carrying it and then changed their story to that they were forced - THAT in my opinion is bit of a give away that they knew what was going on; otherwise they'd have come up with the forced story right from the start. You don't carry 24lb of anything without knowing about it; that's heavy.

A very very silly decision in life that will have horrendous repercussions for so many people, esp the girls.

[molly]

I agree with Suff as well but if their tale is true, they would probably be terrified of the repercussions if they tipped off the authorities. Whoever "forced" them to do it would know they had spoken out as they would not be jailed.

Then again, if the chose to do it, they deserve everything coming to them.