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Two women formally charged with drugs smuggling in Peru

Two women arrested on suspicion of trying to smuggle cocaine worth €1.7m out of Peru have been forma...
TodayFM
TodayFM

6:35 AM - 21 Aug 2013



Two women formally charged wit...

News

Two women formally charged with drugs smuggling in Peru

TodayFM
TodayFM

6:35 AM - 21 Aug 2013



Two women arrested on suspicion of trying to smuggle cocaine worth €1.7m out of Peru have been formally charged.

Michaella McCollum 20, and Melissa Reid, 20, have been  moved to a detention centre in Lima after appearing before the District Prosecutor .

The women face a maximum prison sentence of 15 years if convicted.

McCollum Connolly and Reid were detained in Lima last week, accused of trying to smuggle millions of euro worth of cocaine into Europe.

The two women have protested their innocence, saying they were forced to carry items in their luggage at gunpoint.

Peruvian officials say the women were en route to Madrid and Majorca on August 6 when airport officials discovered almost 12kgs (26lbs) of cocaine hidden inside food packages in their luggage.

The cocaine was said to have a street value of some €1.7 million 

They will eventually be taken to the high security women's prison Ancon 2, north of Lima.

Peter Madden, the lawyer for McCollum  said: "They're both in a holding cell, there are two other women there, but they haven't gotten anything to eat today.

"They haven't been offered any food and to me that is unacceptable. The conditions inside the holding cells are pretty grim.

"They are expected to lie almost on the floor, there is a sort of sponge-type bed which is just not acceptable, there are no blankets, it's not clean, and the most important thing is that they haven't actually been offered any food today, and it didn't look as if they were going to be."

 



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