Peru Drug Suspects - Sentencing Postponed

Two women who pleaded guilty to trying to smuggle cocaine out of Peru during the summer have had their sentencing postponed.

Michaela McCollum, from Dungannon in County Tyrone and Melissa Reid, from Lenzie near Glasgow, both 20 years old, admitted trying to smuggle cocaine worth £1.5m in August.

The women had initially intended to enter a not guilty plea, following claims they were forced into acting as drug mules by a gang while working in the Spanish island of Ibiza during the summer.

But in a bid to reduce their sentencing if found guilty, the women then agreed to make a guilty plea.

However, prosecutors said their initial claims of being coerced would need to be verified with names and addresses of gang members, before leniency could be considered.

The women were due to be sentenced on Tuesday but judges are on strike. No new date has been set.

A guilty plea means their minimum sentencing will be over six and a half years, if found guilty, but could have been up to 15 years if they had been found guilty following an innocent plea.

The women are each alleged to have been carrying almost 6kg of cocaine in their luggage. The drugs were discovered in food parcels by staff at Lima's international airport, when it was noticed that the women were acting 'suspiciously'.

They had been due to fly to Madrid, then onto Majorca.

(IT/CD)