Does she think the public are that stupid?

[MouseMate]

This is one of the first articles on Paul and Laura Makin - the British drug smugglers caught in Venezula

Times Online

In it Laura Makin reckons that she knew nothing about the smuggling

"I thought it might be a nice holiday,? Ms Makin, 31, said, emphasising that the two were no longer a couple and that she had a boyfriend back in England. ?I?ve never travelled before and he has, so I let him take care of everything,? she added"

Ms Makin maintains that the first she knew of these dealings was when they were hauled into a side room at the airport and bags of white powder were pulled from the bottom of their cases, in full view of the four children.

So she goes on holiday with her Ex husband and 4 children, to a place she's never been before (and is really expensive), her husband appears with 3 new suitcases, that presumably she has to pack, but she doesnt know what he is doing......WTF?

?I just want to see my kids,? she said, tears filling her reddened eyes. Mr Makin too began to cry. - Well sorry love, but maybe you should have thought about the kids before you went on this escapade

I feel sorry for the children but I don't doubt that the parents are in a very unpleasant place right now.

Stupid stupid stupid people. I suspect that they were stitched up deliberately perhaps to cover up another smuggling operation. You don't get nothing for nothing.

Apparently, they had only supposed to be gone for a week, and were stopping in some run down hotel, but were "upgraded" to a new classier hotel for a further 2 weeks by the same bloke who gave them the suitcases.

Now if that wasn't giving the game away I don't know what is.

"Come on dear, we will go on holiday, stop a week in cockroach motel and then move to the Ritz for two weeks, so we can appreciate what we have got "

Even I would have been suspicious if I knew nothing of it.

oh it's a well known fact that stupid people like these get set up.

When my friend was 19 she, her 2 small children and another young female got duped into taking some drugs from Morocco into Spain. They were set up. customs were informed (by the people who gave my friend the drugs) and this was the diversion that was going on whilst the real drugs were being smuggled through elsewhere.

That's probably what happened here.

My friend spent 3 years in a Spanish jail and lost custody of her children - she got out early because General Franco died and the government gave some prisoners an amnesty.

"Why would any woman help her violent ex with drug smuggling? It doesn't make sense."

£££££££££

Whether she knew or not I'd say she did what she had to for an easy life. She was probably less afraid of the law than she was of her x....

I've been to Venezuela and to Margarita. Lots of people have. I don't equate it with drugs.

Men like that don't regard their partners as equals. He might have been thinking, if she doesn't know she can't fuck it up for me.

i think it's a huge jump to assume that she's some innocent victim in all this, and that somehow it is down to a controlling manipulative ex. yes i've been to venezuala like you liffey, and no i don't equate it with drugs.but that's because i didn't try to bring home a suitcase full of them.

Hmmm, reading the article it didn't sound like she was an innocent - apart from a mild protestation of "I didn't know anything about it" all she was talking about was how awful the jail was and how worried she was she wouldn't see her children for ages. You'd expect her to be going up the wall in anger if she'd be duped or forced into going on it.

The entire tone of the piece and the comments of the couple read to me as "D'oh". Neither come across as the sharpest knives in the draw and I imagine the way it went was something along the lines of

Unknown contact: "Mate, you fancy making 50 grand for bringing some dodgy stuff back in from Venezuela. Don't ask me what it is, just bring it back. Oh, and make it look like a family holiday cos they won't stop you then"

Mister: "Yep, 50 grand sounds good. I need a few new machetes.Can't see the problem with that. Hey, ex-missus, you fancy an all expenses paid trip to somewhere foreign? Oh and I'll give you 5 grand as well."

Missus: "What's the catch?"

Mister: "We've got to smuggle some stuff back but they'll never catch us cos we'll have the kids with us and they never stop people with kids."

Missus: "Yeah, okay, can't see the problem with that. 5 grand you say?"