PERU Two drug mule Michaella McCollum has warned Brit tourists about how trafficking gangs lure young girls into their criminal operations.
The infamous drug trafficker served three years behind bars in 2013 alongside Melissa Reid after they were handpicked to smuggle £1.5million worth cocaine into Peru.
Peru Two drug mule Michaella McCollum has warned Brit tourists about how trafficking gangs lure young girls into their criminal operations[/caption]
Brit Bella May Culley was arrested in Tbilisi airport, Georgia, with a suitcase packed with drugs[/caption]
Charlotte May Lee, 21, former TUI flight attendant from Coulsdon, was allegedly recruited to smuggle drugs into Sri Lanka[/caption]
Since being freed from a hellhole jail in Lima, McCollum transformed her life and is now a mum and public speaker.
Part of her work includes exposing how foreign drug operations try and recruit British mules.
The 31-year-old appeared on Good Morning Britain this morning to speak on the increasing danger of Brits being preyed upon abroad.
It comes after a spate of young women being arrested on trafficking charges including Bella May Culley, 18, and Charlotte May Lee, 21.
McCollum told Susanna Reid that people are often picked by drug chiefs specifically due to how vulnerable they appear.
She explained: “That’s what they do these organisations, they have people that are pickers and their job is to pick people to become mules.
“They’ll target vulnerabilities which might be age because at 19 or 20 you’re incredibly naive, you’re easy to manipulate.
“Then women as well as obviously women tend to be groomed and coerced in situations a lot more.
“Then whether you have a drug addiction as that could also be a vulnerability.”
McCollum was aged 19 at the time of her first being recruited with her Peru Two partner Reid being only 20.
She has also been open about her drug habits around the time of her arrest as she believes this contributed to her recruitment.
Bella Culley – the teen arrested in Georgia last month – was seen smoking in videos shared to her social media in the weeks before she was stopped at the border and detained.
Michaella also revealed that the drug kingpins ordering young women to become traffickers are masters at manipulation.
She says that when she was first coerced into taking a suitcase of cocaine across the border her bosses convinced her that everything would be okay.
Michaella was made to feel like a “little girl” when she questioned the dangers of smuggling, she said.
Her concerns were always met with simple solutions, she added.
She recalled once asking about how they would get the drugs through the airport before being told the airport staff is in cahoots with the operations being carried out and allow them.
By the time she realised the answers were a lie, Michaelle said she was already in handcuffs.
Michaella McCollum entering the Sarita Colonia jail with a police escort in October, 2013[/caption]
McCollum told Susanna Reid that people are often picked by drug chiefs specifically due to how vulnerable they appear[/caption]
Michaella McCollum is now a mum-of-two and author[/caption]
She continued: “You have to understand that the level of manipulation that goes on behind it as it’s not just overnight, it can be weeks of manipulation.
“They ended up making me believe that this was totally fine. I was being dramatic, I was being naive to question it.
“So I was so scared to say no and men know they can manipulate women to do things and I was so scared to just say no.”
Both Peru Two mules became friends when holidaying in Ibiza in August 2013 and were soon coerced into cocaine trafficking.
But in October, they were arrested as they stepped off a lane in Lima, Peru.
McCollum and Reid were convicted of drug smuggling and sentenced to six years and eight months in a dismal Ancon 2 prison.
At the time, the pair’s horror trip led them to becoming household names as they both admitted to being used by the gangs.
In recent weeks, a string of British women have faced similar worrying experiences after being recruited by foreign gangs.
A couple claiming to be tourists from Thailand were busted with more than 33kg of cannabis in their suitcases at a Spanish airport in May.
Why Brit backpackers are prime targets, Thai cop reveals
By Patrick Harrington, Foreign News Reporter
Police Lieutenant Colonel Arun Musikim, Deputy Inspector of the Surat Thani province police force, said: “Cases involving British nationals smuggling cannabis have been around for a while.
“There is a lot of cannabis grown on Thailand’s islands in the south because the climate is suitable and it is legal. A lot of gangs are attracted to this.
“There are now various smuggling methods that we have seen. Some carry it themselves, some hire backpackers, and some send it via mail.
“This year, there have been many cases we have intercepted. Most involve British and Malaysian nationals.
“It’s easy for British citizens to travel as they can enter Thailand and return to the UK without needing a visa.
“Most of the smugglers are people hired to carry the cannabis, similar to how tourists might smuggle tax-free goods.
“They’re usually unemployed individuals from the UK. The gangs offer them flights, pocket money and hotel stays, just to come and travel and take a bag back home with them.
“These people often have poor social standing at home and are looking for ways to earn quick money. They find them through friends or on social media.
“Many will go to festivals or parties while they are here, just like they are having a normal trip abroad.
“They are told that it is easy and they will not be caught. Then the amount the organisers can sell the cannabis for in the UK is much higher than it costs in Thailand.
“Police suspect that there are multiple employers and groups receiving the drugs on the other end. The cannabis then enters the UK market.
“We are being vigilant to ensure there are no routes out of the country.”
A British OnlyFans model was also caught allegedly smuggling nearly £200,000 worth of Thai cannabis into Spain.
But the two largest and most concerning cases covered Bella and Charlotte.
Bella sparked a massive international search operation in early May after she was reported missing while holidaying in Thailand.
However, it was later revealed that the teen, from Billingham, County Durham, had been arrested 4,000 miles away on drug offences in Georgia.
She was allegedly carrying 30 pounds (14kg) of cannabis into the ex-Soviet nation.
Around the same time, 21-year-old Charlotte Lee May, from Coulsdon, south London, was also arrested in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo after police discovered 46 kg of ‘Kush’ – a synthetic strain of cannabis – in her suitcase.
The former flight attendant is now facing up to 25 years in prison if convicted.
Bella pictured in court in Tbilisi after she was detained at a Georgian airport[/caption]
Charlotte, a former TUI flight attendant from Coulsdon, seen after she appeared in court in Colombo, Sri Lanka[/caption]
