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Irish, British women get 6 years in Peru for drugs

A Peru court Tuesday sentenced an Irish and a British woman to six years and eight months prison each for trafficking cocaine, in a case that triggered a media firestorm in their homelands.

Michaella Connolly, from Ireland, and Melissa Reid, both 20, were arrested last August in Lima international airport as they were trying to leave for Spain.

The pair pleaded guilty in September to attempting to smuggle out of Peru just over 11 kilos (24 pounds) of cocaine with an estimated value of $2.3 million (1.7 million euros).

The cocaine was found stashed in packages of cereal in the belongings of both young women.

The young women had initially denied guilt, claiming they had been coerced into smuggling by a shady international cartel after being kidnapped on the Spanish holiday island of Ibiza.

But they later changed their story, saying they "knew they were going to transport drugs, and that they regret having participated in such an act," according to a previous court press release.

The Callao court that heard their case said their sentence had been reduced from eight years to six years and eight months under a plea bargain with prosecutors.

They were also fined 10,000 soles (about $4,000) each, and ordered to perform 280 days of community service.

Callao prosecutors had insisted that as part of the plea bargain the women explain the smuggling scheme in detail, naming others in the organization they worked with.

"Prosecutors do not believe that they alone took a plane from Spain to Peru, bought drugs and then tried to go back to Europe. They have got to give details about the members of the group they worked with," prosecutor Juan Mendoza said in September after they pleaded guilty.

After their arrest, the women told British reporters they had been kidnapped by a drug cartel, taken to Peru and forced to transport drugs. Peruvian authorities did not believe the story.

Their case had triggered sensational headlines in their homelands, as they had initially been reported missing in Spain in July.

A major media and online campaign was launched to find the two young women, amid fears that they might have been kidnapped, until news emerged of their arrest in Peru.

Since 2012, 248 foreigners laden with drugs have been arrested at Lima's international airport.

Some 50 foreign women -- mostly Europeans -- are serving time in a newly-built prison in Peru for attempting to transport drugs.

Earlier this year, the Peruvian police broke up a ring of drug carriers -- or "mules" -- led by a nephew of British singer Phil Collins.

Philip Austin Collins was arrested and has been jailed in Lima since May. Other Britons linked to Collins also were subsequently arrested, raising suspicions that the two women sentenced on Tuesday may have been part of the same smuggling network.

Peru, along with Colombia and Bolivia, is one of the world's biggest producers of cocaine.

Most of the cocaine coming out of the country is destined for the United States, where a kilo of the drug sells for $30,000. Cocaine is even pricier in Europe, selling for $45,000 a kilogram, and in Asia, where it goes for up to $110,000.

Peruvian police say mules are paid between $5,000 and $7,000 to carry drugs from Peru to Spain.

"Most of those detained for drug trafficking are Europeans, especially Spaniards. We suppose it's because of the economic crisis hitting the country," Johnny Bravo, the head of the Peruvian anti-drug agency's unit at the Lima International Airport, told AFP in August. (AFP)