Two women arrested on suspicion of trying to smuggle cocaine worth £1.5 million out of Peru have been refused bail and could spend up to three years in prison awaiting trial, it has emerged.
Michaella McCollum and Melissa Reid, both 20, face a maximum prison sentence of 15 years if convicted, a Peruvian prosecutor's office in Callao, near Lima, has said.
During a public court appearance yesterday the pair were formally charged with the promotion of drug trafficking.
McCollum, from Dungannon, Co Tyrone, in Northern Ireland, and Reid, from Glasgow, claim they were forced to carry the drugs - concealed in food packages - by an armed gang who threatened their family members.
But during the hearing, judge Dilo Huaman asked why they did not ask for help when they arrived at Lima airport, to which they replied they were threatened by someone anonymous, according to Sky News.
The prosecutor told the court that their story was "incoherent", the broadcaster added.
The pair, who were led into court in handcuffs, have already spent two weeks in custody over the drug trafficking allegations and have suffered from a lack of food and a decent bed, according to McCollum's lawyer Peter Madden.
He added the pair were effectively beginning a prison sentence, as they were led away for an unknown amount of time for their trial, which could be anything from a matter of months to up to three years away.
Mr Madden said: "Their main concern at the minute is that they may be separated, sent to different prisons.
"They are very concerned that might happen. They did not know each other before this started, they have now become best friends."
Peruvian police said they found around 24lb of cocaine hidden inside food packages as the women attempted to board a flight from Lima to Madrid.
During the hearing they were informed it could take three years for their trial to get underway should they plead not guilty.
Mr Madden has maintained his client will plead not guilty and described the conditions she is being held in as "unacceptable".
The pair were pictured yesterday in handcuffs being escorted by officers from the National Police anti-drug headquarters for medical examinations.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article