Two women caught with £1.5 million worth of cocaine in Peru have told how they had loaded guns held to their heads and were told to smuggle the drugs or die, it has been reported.
Melissa Reid, 19, from Scotland, and Michaella McCollum Connolly, 20, from Northern Ireland claim they were forced into trafficking by a Cockney criminal, who plucked them from the streets of Ibiza and had a dossier on their families.
The pair, who are being held at the maximum security Dirandro Police Station in the Peruvian capital said they feared they would be killed if they failed to carry out the demands.
In an interview with the Daily Mirror from the police holding centre in Lima, Ms Reid told how the gang threatened their families and added that the pair had never even met before being sent to Peru by gangsters.
She said: “We were given no option. If we didn’t do as we were told we would be dead. We were not smuggling for money, we were smuggling for our lives.
“We have no doubt they would have killed us both without hesitation if we didn’t do as we were told.
“Ever since I was arrested I have played out what has happened in my mind over and over again asking myself how could we have gotten out of it. But each time I think it wasn’t even an option.
“We both had loaded guns put to our heads. They were more than prepared to use them. If we didn’t do it we were told we would die.”
The women told the paper they were robbed of their passports and mobile phones and followed by members of a violent drugs cartel on board the flights from Spain to Peru.
Once in South America they were ordered to carry the cocaine hidden inside food packets.
Ms Reid said the men had information on their families, who would be threatened if they failed to comply.
They said the first time they met was after being kidnapped and taken to the cartel’s safe house in Majorca. Ms Reid, who marks her 20th birthday on Friday, was the first to be sent to Lima on August 1.
She was joined by photography student and former nightclub hostess Ms McCollum Connolly a day later.
She said they were “coached” on what to say if they were stopped and told to claim they were “best friends” who were travelling together.
Ms Reid added: “We never knew until we saw the drugs what it was we were expected to take back. We had thought it was either money, guns or drugs but they never told us until the night before we flew back to Lima.
“We were held up in a dingy room and they placed the drugs in front of us. The men, all South American, told us to wrap the drugs up tightly in clothes to avoid being detected.
“We were both incredibly frightened and so at that point they threatened us again with our lives to make sure we went through with it.”
The families of both girls have spoken of their anguish at their ordeal.
In a statement released through their solicitor the McCollum family who are based in Dungannon, Co Tyrone said they were confident Michaella was not guilty of any wrongdoing.
“Michaella’s family are obviously shocked and distressed by the recent events but are confident that Michaella will be exonerated,” said solicitor Peter Madden.
The family are making arrangements to travel to Peru and have contacted support groups in Lima to help her in the meantime. They are also arranging legal representation.
Ms Reid said she had been upset when speaking to her parents, and said she cried herself to sleep knowing she was likely to spend the next three to four years in a Peruvian prison.
Ms McCollum Connolly, whose family launched a huge online campaign after failing to make contact with her for over 12 days, admitted she was struggling to cope with the difficult conditions.
She said: “We have very little in the way of necessities. The cells get extremely cold at night. We have been told we will be moved to a prison soon where the conditions are much worse.”
The women are due to appear at a preliminary court hearing in Lima, but have yet to be formally questioned by Peruvian police. It is understood officers have not been supplied with an English-speaking translator.