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How 2 Peru Drug Runners Turned Lives Around 10yrs on From Airport Bust
'Peru Two' Drug Mule Was Stripped Naked and Told She'd Never See Daylight Again
Michaella McCollum said she had to keep herself hydrated by drinking water in a jug next to a toilet pit after being jailed over a £1.5million cocaine smuggling plot Mirror Online UK, 1 NOV 2019. https://i2-prod.mirror.co.uk/incomin...a-McCollum.jpg The 25-year-old published a book to share her experience behind bars (Image: Michaella McCollum/Instagram) The Northern Irish ex-convict served more than two years in the maximum security prison after she and pal Melissa Reid were caught in the airport at the capital city of Lima in 2013. She described how she was forced to strip naked and woke to find 40 or 50 ****roaches crawling above her head and around her feet. And the bathroom area of her prison was a pit with a small jug next to it. She was told: "If you wanted a shower you used the jug to pour water over yourself. https://i2-prod.mirror.co.uk/incomin...-airport-i.jpg Michaella (left) was jailed with friend Melissa Reid (right) in Peru (Image: REUTERS) https://i2-prod.mirror.co.uk/incomin...0_xxxxxxxx.jpg She wrote a book to share her horror while being locked up in jail (Image: Michaella McCollum/Instagram) "When you used the hole as a toilet, you used the jug to wash it away." After she was also told to keep hydrated by drinking the water in the jug, she replied: "You're kidding me? We can't drink that! It's filthy! And there's hardly any of it." The 25-year-old, now a mum-of-two, suggested to Melissa that they would have to learn Spanish and understand the rules, the Mail on Sunday reports. https://i2-prod.mirror.co.uk/incomin...d-in-court.jpg McCollum said they were forced to strip naked (Image: REUTERS) The pair even talked to a fellow inmate who shared her story of how she murdered her boyfriend's girlfriend and a baby, then served the infant in a stew. Michaella's case was fast-tracked in 2013 after she learned that she had brought a lot of 'unwanted attention' to Peru's legal system. A guilty plea gave McCollum and Reid an exchange for six years and eight months rather than the 15-year stretch she had feared. |
Re: PERU -Drugs Mule Reveals She Cried in ****roach-Infested Jail
‘Peru Two’ Drugs Mule Michaella McCollum Reveals She Cried in ****roach-Infested Jail
She has revealed the horrors in new BBC 5 Part documentary “High: Confessions of an Ibiza Drug Mule”. McCollum told BBC how she struggled to cope in the Peru jail where she spent three years after trying to smuggle cocaine out of the South American country Daily Mirror UK, 25 JUN 2021. https://i2-prod.mirror.co.uk/incomin...-airport-i.jpg https://i2-prod.mirror.co.uk/incomin...m-20-and-B.jpg https://i2-prod.mirror.co.uk/incomin...615b/1_624.jpg McCollum spent three years in a Peruvian prison after trying to take cocaine out of the country “Peru Two” drugs mule Michaella McCollum has told how she cried and felt she was “losing it” as she struggled to sleep in her South American prison cell infested by ****roaches. She said the ****roaches made her paranoid at the Virgin de Fatima prison were she was held as she awaited trial. "They would hide during the day, and when I would get into bed you would hear them crawling up," she said. "I used to just cover myself with a sheet and hope they didn't crawl on me. I was really paranoid because I felt like my skin was crawling all the time. "She just leaped across the table and started attacking this other girl, her blood and hair were everywhere," she recalled. "After the first few horrendous months there I did slowly start to drop my guard a bit...I kind of figured if they wanted me dead it would have happened by now." There were some positives for her as well as she learnt Spanish working in a basic beauty salon at the prison. "I learned the prison had its very own beauty salon, more like a few chairs and mirrors and a concrete room, but for me it was heaven," she said. "I got a job and I would do different hair treatments, colouring and cutting, blow-dries, waxing, nails, massage. After three years inside, the Peru Two were released and after returning home to Northern Ireland, McCollum is now a mum of twin boys and is studying for a degree. "When you’re young you don’t know it all," she said. "I made a dreadful mistake and I regret it, but what prison taught me made me who I am today and that’s a better person than I would have been otherwise." High: Confessions of an Ibiza Drug Mule on BBC Three from 3 July |
Re: How 2 Peru Drug Runners Turned Lives Around 10yrs on From Airport Bust
How Peru Two Drug Runners Turned Their Lives Around 10 Years on From Airport Bust
Michaella McCollum and Melissa Reid were stopped in Peru carrying 11kg worth of cocaine as they tried to leave the country back in 2013, as they became known as the Peru Two BBC 8 AUG 2023 https://i2-prod.mirror.co.uk/incomin...m-Connolly.jpg They were arrested in 2013 Two young women who were at the centre of a drug bust which made headlines around the world 10 years ago have moved on with their lives. Michaella McCollum and Melissa Reid were stopped in Peru carrying 11kg worth of cocaine as they tried to leave the country back in 2013, as they became known as the Peru Two. Michaella was working as a part-time model and nightclub hostess in Ibiza when she and Melissa hid the class A drug inside porridge and jelly packets to help mask the smell. Before boarding a long-haul flight to Madrid in Spain, they were caught at Lima Airport by customs officers and were arrested. They claimed at the time they had been forced by an armed gang to carry the class A drugs and were paid just £4,000 each for their efforts. Now, 10 years on, Michaella who was originally from Dungannon, County Tyrone, graduated from the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland with a degree in BBA in Business Management, Marketing and Related Support Services. She celebrated with her twin sons Rio and Rafael, as they posed for photographs.She wrote on Instagram: "10 years ago I was graduating with different lessons! So happy to have came this far." On March 31, 2016, Michaella was released from prison after applying to be freed on parole after the initial prospect of remaining in Peru for up to six years. Her accomplice Melissa was released a few months later on June 21 after the Peruvian authorities agreed to ‘expel’ her from the country. They were taken to Virgen de Fatima prison in Lima, whilst in Peru, but were later transferred to Ancon 2 prison with some reports stating they were in cells with 30 other prisoners. Late last year, docu-series High: Confessions of an Ibiza Drug Mule was released, narrated by Michaella. She also released a book about her Peru ordeal in 2019, called You'll Never See Daylight Again – which was later turned into the BBC/Netflix series. She has recently seen her popularity boom, and is considered a celebrity in her native Northern Ireland, where she boasts more than 100k Instagram followers and is a public speaker at events. https://i2-prod.mirror.co.uk/incomin...g-£15milli.jpg Michaella McCollum graduated last month https://i2-prod.mirror.co.uk/incomin...lissa-Reid.jpg Melissa Reid is now a support worker Glasgow-born Melissa has been working has a support working at a homeless shelter since her own release from prison and has been working with addicts to help them get change their lives. Colleagues praised her motivational skills and branded her a "rising star" in the profession. One source told the Sun: “Melissa is doing really well and moving on with her career. The unit helps people who abuse drugs and alcohol. Apparently she came in to oversee the service and has landed a manager’s role. As far as I’m aware, there was an incident where one resident was thrown out by her as they were suspected of dealing.” |
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