Tourist faces prison for smuggling cocaine down under
A French-Canadian tourist caught trying to smuggle drugs into Australia could be facing life in prison, as she appeared in court last week.
According to news.com.au, the 29-year-old woman had 23kg of cocaine in her suitcase, was on board a six-week cruise from England to Australia, after she got into $20,000 worth of debt.
The woman appeared in Sydney District Court on Friday, per news, where she admitted she was doing “an easy job for easy money”.
The woman had previously pleaded guilty in December to the importation of a commercial quantity of a border-controlled drug, and now could be facing a maximum penalty of life in jail in Australia.
The woman said she was promised her debt “would be erased” after her job, with the people giving her the drugs on board the cruise ship confident that a woman of her age would not appear suspicious at customs.
She told the court the night before the ship docked in Sydney, a male passenger put the drugs into her back, after which she did not touch or look inside the suitcase.
Per news, the woman was arrested with two others who were also accused of importing cocaine in August last year, after police boarded the cruise ship in Sydney and uncovered the drugs stashed inside the suitcases.
The woman told the court she had to do it as she feared for the lives of her family and herself.
“They came and told me I had to do this. I had to take the trip and I had to bring a bag,” she said, per news.
She also refused to identify the people who gave her the drugs because she was scared. The court heard, per news, that she met six men and one woman on board the cruise ship, and shared her cabin with the woman.
Email the Travel Weekly team at traveldesk@travelweekly.com.au
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