THE father of a Scots teenager who is being held in a Peruvian jail for alleged drug smuggling has revealed she is "very emotional and very scared".

William Reid spoke to his 19-year-old daughter Melissa by phone from the capital Lima, where she is being held over the £1.5m cocaine seizure.

He said the family is now seeking advice over the best course of action for his daughter and that no plans had been made as yet to fly out to see Ms Reid, who is due to make her first court appearance today.

The fear is they could aggravate the situation if they were present at the prison given the threat of extortion and intimidation of those linked to drug cases.

Ms Reid, a former call centre worker who went to Ibiza for the summer in June, is being held in a police holding cell with 21-year-old Michaela McCollum Connolly, who had been working on the island as a nightclub dancer.

Mr Reid, of Lenzie, East Dunbartonshire, said he and his family had not slept since they learned that their daughter was in custody in South America.

His daughter, who turns 20 on Friday, had left Scotland on June 26 to work in Ibiza and just over one month later travelled to Peru, with her family having no idea that she had left the island.

Mr Reid added: "She was very emotional and very scared. I told her to be strong while we work out what to do."

Mr Reid, who lives in the Woodilee Village development, described his daughter as "bright, bubbly and very intelligent" and said he did not believe she would have knowingly got involved with drug smugglers.

He said: "I think she may have met someone, they had a bit of fun and then something has gone wrong down the line."

Ms Reid's mother Debra said: "That is going to be a very hard day. She was planning on going to a special nightclub for her birthday. Her brother Liam is getting married in February and she was very excited about it.

"It will be heartbreaking for us if she's not there. We can't even think about her being in Peru for several years."

In an interview from their police holding cell in Lima, the women claimed to have been coerced into carrying the drugs by members of a violent drugs gang who put loaded guns to their heads.

Ms Reid insisted they were not smuggling for financial gain but to save their lives.

She said: "We were given no option. If we didn't do as we were told we would be dead. We were not smuggling for money, we were smuggling for our lives.

"We have no doubt they would have killed us both without hesitation if we didn't do as we were told.

"Ever since I was arrested I have played out what has happened in my mind over and over again, asking myself how could we have gotten out of it. But each time I think it wasn't even an option.

"We both had loaded guns put to our heads. They were more than prepared to use them. If we didn't do it we were told we would die."

The women said they were robbed of their passports and mobile phones and followed on board the flights from Spain to Peru.

Once in South America they were ordered to carry the cocaine hidden inside food packets.

Ms Reid said the men had information on their families, who would be threatened if they failed to follow the gang's orders. She also revealed that the first time the women met was after being kidnapped and taken to the drugs cartel's safe house in Majorca.

Ms Reid, who marks her 20th birthday on Friday, was the first to be sent to Lima, on August 1.

She was joined by Ms McCollum Connolly a day later.

She said they were "coached" on what to say if they were stopped and told to claim they were "best friends" who were travelling together.

Ms McCollum Connolly, who is also protesting her innocence, described the conditions in which they have been held as harsh.

She said: "We have very little in the way of necessities. The cells get extremely cold at night. We have been told we will be moved to a prison soon where the conditions are much worse."

A police video has shown Ms Reid and Ms McCollum Connolly, of County Tyrone, looking grim-faced as they were being questioned at Lima Airport. However, separate footage of the pair later showed them apparently smiling and looking far more relaxed together.

The Scot had been due to fly to Madrid and then to Majorca when she was arrested.

Images of the women with the bags they were arrested with and a separate photograph of what appears to be a bag of cocaine have also emerged. It is suggested the drugs were hidden in packets, including Quaker oats cereal.

The family of Ms McCollum Connolly recently launched a social media appeal after she failed to get in touch with family and friends. Ms Reid, who appears composed and clear in the video, claims that she had been forced to take the bags containing drugs and that she did not know she was holding the cocaine.

Graeme Pearson MSP, Labour justice spokesman and ex-head of the former Scottish Crime and Drugs Enforcement Agency, said: "My assessment, for what it is worth, based on nothing but impression, is that we have two silly women duped into being drug mules, blinded by the high life of Ibiza and believing little can happen to them - until... reality crashed into their lives.

"I expect all of their 'friends' in Spain have gone to ground no doubt already partying with new targets to use in the future."

Mr Pearson said it was likely that UK Europol would be working with authorities in Peru and Spain to gather any available intelligence on Ms Reid.

The family of Ms McCollum Connolly yesterday confirmed she had now been questioned by police and "denied that she was guilty of any offence".

At the family home in Dungannon, Mrs McCollum said her family was going through a difficult time.

She added: "At the moment we don't know anything. We don't know what is happening at all."

Her parents are making arrangements to travel to Peru.

The family's lawyer, Peter Madden, said: "She is finding it difficult to cope with the current situation, so far from home, but is optimistic."

UK charity Prisoners Abroad is assisting 32 British nationals in Peru, including three British females - all for drugs offences.

The Peruvian justice system takes a hard line on drugs. Anyone charged with trafficking narcotics is ineligible for bail, while those convicted will be denied parole.

However, there is a prison transfer treaty between Peru and the UK, which may enable the women to apply to finish serving their sentence in the UK.