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AIBU?

To not feel any sympathy for drug-smuggling women?

592 replies

DarceyBissell · 12/08/2013 17:42

Just that really. Two young women facing 25 years in a Peruvian jail for trying to smuggle 11kg of cocaine. Saw they described as 'vulnerable' in one paper. Hardly. Greedy and stupid though.

OP posts:

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Nancy66 · 12/08/2013 21:27

The youngest one is only 19 isn't she?

Irrespective of guilt or innocence she must be bloody terrified right now and I can't not feel some sympathy for her.

Viviennemary · 12/08/2013 21:31

I thought I was being hard hearted when I couldn't summon up much sympathy for these drug smugglers. But I'm afraid I can't. They cause too much misery and death.

NotQuiteWithItAtAll · 12/08/2013 21:33

I highly doubt they went looking for jobs in smuggling drugs. They went to Peru to smuggle drugs back to Spain when they were in Ibiza?

I think someone has come along offering this life changing amount of money to do this little job for them. And they have gone into it not knowing the facts or consequences of what they are doing. Would a 19 year old really choose to possibly spend the next 26 years of her life in a Jail?

dandydorset · 12/08/2013 21:37

well maybe the ones that feel so much sympathy for these two girls could spend a few days at a rehab centre and see the misery,then talk to the families of the addicts and see how they feel about drugs

oh and to top it of speak to the many innocent victims of crime that suffer through the need for a drugs fix

weekendninja · 12/08/2013 21:38

YAB completely U. without the facts we can only speculate on their circumstances. How do we know there wasn't a controlling partner, that they themselves happen to have a drug problem, or any other variable. The money that they would have been doing it for will be negligible so there is probably more to this story.

It's the people that are behind this that you need to vent your anger on - those futher up the chain. They are the ones reaping the rewards of amonymity and cash.

TheRealFellatio · 12/08/2013 21:38

I have no sympathy for the mules or the addicts.

I would want to be 100% sure that they knew what they were doing though, and that the drugs were not planted on totally innocent women.

But if they knew, and took a chance, then naah...no sympathy from me.

sweetestcup · 12/08/2013 21:39

Oh come on, its not as if its not well known that drug smuggling is illegal and you risk years in a foreign jail if caught...they obviously thought the risk was worth it.

BonaDrag · 12/08/2013 21:39

Judge, jury and executioner on MN tonight.

None of you know any of the backstory so may be best placed to withold judgment until then.

somewheresomehow · 12/08/2013 21:39

goodtouchbadtouch if you saw the state of my ds1 has been at times you wouldn't want them legalized. and no he wont get off it cause hes hooked line and fucking sinker

sweetestcup · 12/08/2013 21:43

Bona I will judge based on the fact they were caught red handed.

valiumredhead · 12/08/2013 21:46

I feel sorry for anyone who makes such poor choices and will pay for it for the rest of their lives. They could gave been forced into it. No one knows yet so you can all stop pursing your lips and hoiking your bosoms

BonaDrag · 12/08/2013 21:48

They have not been tried yet.

needaholidaynow · 12/08/2013 21:50

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

FreudiansSlipper · 12/08/2013 21:54

how do we know they were not set up. maybe a friend of theirs bought identical cases and switched them, maybe they are addicts and desperate for money or living in fear because they owe money to people that will think nothing of harming them or their family

or they could have just been very very foolish and believed they would not get caught. yet too many young men and women are foolish but i would rather know more of the background facts than they were caught especially in such a corrupt country who are desperate to show that they are coming down hard on drug dealers

of course those that really profit from it very rarely get caught as they are paying too many people to keep themselves safe

Cantgivedetails · 12/08/2013 21:56

Name changed for this, or I would completely put myself to anyone who knows me.

I knew one of them very well a couple of years ago through my DD. She was (is) a lovely girl - a bit of a party animal but not stupid or daft. She is not vulnerable in any way - did well at school, lovely family, plenty of money but not spoilt. I just can't believe it's happened.

They didn't know each other until they met on Ibiza last month, by all accounts.

I don't know the full story. No one does. But she's just not the type to do this. Her poor parents. They will be utterly devastated. As are all her friends from home. They're just flummoxed by the whole thing. Just awful.

NotQuiteWithItAtAll · 12/08/2013 21:59

My sister is with a horrible horrible man who does this sort of thing. If he asked her to also do it, i really do think she would. She would have no idea what could happen, or would happen if caught. She's very gullible like that. Would she deserve going to jail because her asshole boyfriend convinced her it would all be fine? no. I'd be bloody devastated.
She's 20. She has a baby niece who she adores. She doesn't think of her though, or her mum and dad when she is snorting stuff. Nobody is shoving it up her nose.
I just hope one day she will bloody read new stories like this!

MrsOakenshield · 12/08/2013 22:25

does it have to be either/or? Sympathy for addicts and their families and the victims of the crimes they commit because of their addiction, but not for 2 young girls whose story is not yet clear, and who also have loving families?

Some smugglers only have themselves to blame - so do some addicts. Some smugglers have been forced or coerced, vulnerable, gullible young people strung a line about how great things will be - same with addicts.

If you're going to say you have no sympathy for smugglers and the misery they cause, then at least be consistent and say you have no sympathy for drug addicts and the misery they cause. Or perhaps you could extend some sympathy to everyone who's lives have been torn apart by drugs.

OutragedFromLeeds · 12/08/2013 22:35

That's a really good post MrsOak.

ClutchingPearls · 12/08/2013 22:47

I have to admit when I saw this story my mind was made up, no sympathy for them at all. Like with Lindsay Sandford, all drugs smugglers know what the are doing and should be treated in accordance with local law.

But with these girls I feel its different. The had been completely out of contact with their loved ones to the point of them suspecting the worst. I read the hadn't used their own passports or made any traceable transactions and suddenly turn up in a different country. That, to me, hints that the had been picked up and put in a position of complete vulnerability. No phone, no contacts, no real idea of where they are, no money and nobody knows where to look for them.

Suddenly I do feel sadness for their situation at that time and hope they get the help they need. Everyone has a point in completely extraordinary circumstances where they would break the law. For them this was obviously it.

I do feel its likely they have fallen into or been forced into an extremely difficult situation.

Or they could be greedy and willing to take a stupid risk. Until they are given their day no-one knows, but this one just seems different.

Caster8 · 12/08/2013 22:57

As others have said, we dont even know the story, let alone the back story.
[Actually I have been pleasantly surprised that there haven't been more posters condemning them without knowing full details]
I sometimes think MN is becoming a more empathetic place?

kilmuir · 12/08/2013 23:00

no sympathy, if found guilty then they deserve the punishment. tough

noddyholder · 12/08/2013 23:07

Poor girls so young and foolish. They are not dealers probably were promised all kinds

liquidstate · 12/08/2013 23:34

I hardly think they were coerced since their families were safely in a different country and they appear to have travelled from Ibiza. I think they just got persuaded it was easy money.

I wont pity them at all until I hear the details from the trial.

needaholidaynow · 13/08/2013 00:36

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

RoxyFox211 · 13/08/2013 00:47

I feel extremely sorry for them.
Sorry, I'm guna get flamed, but even if they did do it I think the punishment is likely to be unjust and unreasonable. I'm totally for tough sentences for violent crime but this was just stupid niavity. I don't see how society will benefit by ruining these two girls lives. It will act as a slight detterant but people will still do it.
I feel very sorry for their parents. I can't even begin to imagine how they must all be feeling. Very sad.

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