A Scottish teenager and a nightclub hostess, who sparked a massive online campaign after she disappeared from the holiday island Ibiza, have turned up in police custody in Peru on suspicion of drug trafficking.
Michaella McCollum Connolly, 20, from Belfast, was arrested in Lima on Tuesday along with Melissa Reid, 19, from East Dunbartonshire, while trying to board a flight to Madrid.
The National Police of Peru said they found more than 24lb of cocaine thought to be worth around £1.5 million hidden in food in the luggage of the two women.
Ms McCollum Connolly and Ms Reid were detained at the Jorge Chavez International airport as they tried to board a flight to Madrid, which was travelling on to Palma Mallorca, police in Peru said.
They were stopped at the international airport’s Air Europa counter. Ms Reid’s family is reported to be in shock after learning about her arrest.
Her father William, 66, from Lenzie, said: “We don’t know anything, we haven’t been told anything. We don’t have any new information. We are not in a position to elaborate.
“We’re in the position where we are just trying to come to terms with it.”
He said it was “too early” to say whether any of the family would travel to Peru.
Ms McCollum Connolly was at the centre of a Facebook and online social media appeal, backed by Irish sports stars, desperately seeking information about her whereabouts over the past two weeks.
Her distraught family said they had not heard anything from her in 12 days. The photography student had gone to San Antonio in Ibiza in June on a working holiday.
She was looking for work as a dancer and nightclub hostess. Her family said she usually phoned home every two to three days and they became concerned when she had fallen out of contact.
The Foreign Office in London confirmed it was helping a British national, while Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs said it was also providing consular assistance to the family of an Irish woman being held in Peru on suspicion of drug trafficking offences.
Ms McCollum Connolly holds an Irish passport.