Peru drug suspects face 18 years
Peruvian prosecutors have warned that a British and an Irish woman charged with trying to smuggle cocaine worth £1.5 million out of the country could face up to 18 years in jail if they are convicted.
Peruvian prosecutors have warned that a British and an Irish woman charged with trying to smuggle cocaine worth £1.5 million out of the country could face up to 18 years in jail if they are convicted.
Two women arrested on suspicion of trying to smuggle cocaine worth £1.5 million out of Peru are expected to be charged today, according to prosecutors.
It is believed Michaella McCollum, 20, from Dungannon, Co Tyrone, in Northern Ireland, and Melissa Reid, 20, from Glasgow, will then be taken to prison to await trial, a spokeswoman for the prosecutors' office said.
Melissa Reid and Michaela McCollum appeared in court in Lima, but it is unclear whether they have been charged, their lawyer said.
Two women accused of smuggling 12kg of cocaine into Peru could face up to three years in custody and a maximum of 25 years in prison.
A British woman accused of drug trafficking in Peru said she and her friend "were not smuggling for money, we were smuggling for our lives."