HIGH: Confessions of an Ibiza drug mule. BBC

[Coconutscrub]

Has anyone seen this? I was hooked - the whole story is fascinating!

“ In 2013, Michaella McCollum from Northern Ireland and Melissa Reid from Scotland were caught at the Jorge Chavez International Airport in Peru trying to smuggle £1.5 million of cocaine into Spain. The pair, also known as the `Peru Two,' were sentenced to almost seven years in one of the most notorious prisons in the world. The series provides a first-hand account from Michaella, a former club hostess in the Spanish nightlife, as she traces her journey from arriving in the foreign country for her first holiday to her downward spiral into the illicit world of drugs and excess.”

Oh, and could the smarmy, know-it-all lawyer possibly namedrop Escobar any more?

I think Michaella is definitely trying to portray herself as an innocent abroad

That was her story from the start so she has probably totally bought into it herself at this point- she’s told the lie that many times.

I’m watching now. Her narration is she sounds like a 7 year old reading off a script she’s never seen before.

I think it's the Peruvian prosector who explains how the cartels will set up some mules to get caught - while the police are arresting 2 young women with 12 kilos each (after a tip-off), there's another carrier with a lot more getting past them

That’s what I assumed happened here. The 2 girls are the “brown envelope” to pay for safe passage of the real cargo.

I was in Ibiza the year before Michaella was. The dealer on the show saying everyone was on drugs- maybe everyone he surrounded himself with but not my experience. We went out, drank and danced but it was really easy to not take drugs. Nobody was forcing them on you. Offering, yes but they all took no for an answer without issue. And it wasn’t blatant either.

I feel sorry for the other girl, Melissa as she never got to tell her side of the story and Michaella didn't talk about her in a positive way.

Melissa is smart not to be involved in the show. Keep her name out of the press. Get on with her life.

Michaela: I thought it was just some ecstasy

Her Scottish friend: michaela told me he’d asked her to smuggle cocaine

😂 clearly didn’t prep her mate well enough before filming!

It was an interesting story and I watched all the episodes. I don’t think Michaella is a ‘daft, thick as shit mare’. I think she is an intelligent young woman who turned her life round in prison from being a foreigner who didn’t speak Spanish to the prisoners’ elected delegate and then convinced the Peruvian courts to give her early probation. She is now trying do turn her notoriety into a media career.

She’s also obviously very attractive. I wonder if a fat, bald 45 year old bloke would be on the telly if he had done the same?

I liked her. That doesn't mean I have sympathy for her. I don't. She was incredibly stupid and she was lucky to get through that relatively unscathed.
What upset me was how much suffering is caused by the insatiable appetite for cocaine. I wish people would think twice before snorting that shit.

I also didn't understand how she walked out of a Peruvian jail looking like she'd been to a spa. A beauty salon in a prison?

Yes she worked in the prison beauty salon. Made a clean fortune there by all accounts. Enough to bribe the courts to bring her parole hearing forward.

Wonder if she paid back the people of aughnacloy all the money they raised for her.

Lol at the bit at the end saying she was studying for a degree at “Belfast university”. There’s no such place. It’s either queens or Ulster university.

@Northernsoullover

I liked her. That doesn't mean I have sympathy for her. I don't. She was incredibly stupid and she was lucky to get through that relatively unscathed. What upset me was how much suffering is caused by the insatiable appetite for cocaine. I wish people would think twice before snorting that shit.

The cocaine isn't the problem, it's prohibition that's the problem.

Michaela came across polished,attractive,contrived,unrepentant,unreliable
She’s learned the Poor wee lassie script, notable Melissa Reid didn’t participate
Clearly though Michaela is gutsy and canny,Christ she turned a fierce prison sentence into opportunity. She talks a good game
Do I believe her account? Hell no it’s embellished and self serving, bit she’s the more photogenic and ballsy of the two drug couriers so her story will have resonance
Shocking overall because the general gist was crime does pay, if you’re photogenic and self publicising

@CrazyNeighbour

The cocaine isn't the problem, it's prohibition that's the problem

Are you on glue?
“Cocaine isn’t the problem”, yeah right cocaine is no problem at all. What an idiot.

No need to call names.

All the crime and murder comes from the fact that cocaine is illegal.

Cocaine by itself is no worse for society than booze or fags (which isn't 'good' for society by any means, but no worse)

Look at the soaring crime during the alcohol prohibition era in America

I couldn't finish it. Too many holes in the story and the style was utter pap like Hollyoakes or some crap. She was reading a script over the reconstruction so cheesy.

I watched the whole thing and “enjoyed “ it if that’s the right word. Agree with pp - more holes than a Swiss cheese. I thought it was an actress doing the voice over rather than M herself.

I watched the first episode and my first thought is the "Ibiza drug dealer" with the concealed voice is completely made up. I did many summers in Ibiza and if you were "doing drugs at the table" in a bar like it was nothing as he says, the guardia would come and kick the shit out of you

I understand that she might not have known that Lima is in Peru. But when she got to the airport she said she saw a board with the flight paths. That in itself would have had me running to the nearest pay phone.
I didn't know that they have undercover police in airports. No wonder I'm always getting a tug, nervous flyer haha.
But to try and do that for five grand.

She plays the “I didn’t know, I’m so stupid, aren’t I?” card very well but her actions give her away. The sheer arrogance of the two of them sticking to their fictitious story right until the last minute despite the prosecutor and the journalist telling them they could see they were lying. Michaela lying to her family. Her poor mother going onto tv and standing firmly by her “innocent” daughter. I didn’t hear michaela say how sorry she was about that, how ashamed of herself for that. I saw the obligatory crocodile tears but no words of substance. Oh and flashing her children’s photos at the end. Bad enough she keeps throwing her own name and image into the press but leave the poor kids out of your shameful story. She’s a horrible, self serving scumbag.

I honestly don't understand the vitriol directed at Michaela..? There are worse people in the world!

She was an idiot who wanted to make easy money and was arrogant and apparently still wants to make money off the story. Who cares! I don't understand all the name calling

I honestly don't understand the vitriol directed at Michaela..? There are worse people in the world!

So because there are worse people in the world, no one can say their opinion of michaela? you’ve never talked about someone who has behaved badly because others have done worse? Sure.

I’m not really buying that you don’t understand it. If you’ve seen the programme or heard any of the news at the time you’ll know exactly what she’s done so the comments about her will be no mystery .

I don’t think there’s a vitriol toward Michaela. If she was a shady looking less photogenic she’d not be treated as well
She’s actually lightly treated and for a crim drug mule

I think that drug laws/charges are always out of proportion, especially when compared to violent and sexual crime.

This makes me feel better about doubting her sincerity and disliking her constant comments about how young she was and how she was from a small backwater.

She did say she was still in touch with some of the other inmates but I would have felt better about her if she had set up a charity or campaign to discourage cocaine use and support all those poor people living in poverty in Peru. She did acknowledge that taking cocaine is supporting the drug cartels but I would have liked her to make a lot more of this.

She seems to now identify as someone who had an amazing adventure.

I also watched Narcos.The power, wealth and utter ruthlessness of the drug cartels horrifies and fascinates me. They have people working for them at the very highest levels: governments and police. How ruthless to knowingly trick someone into a certain prison sentence.

If that was a Peruvian girl she would still be in the prison. Drugs affect the local populations the most. I don't feel sorry for first world party girls who are happy to do the drugs without a thought for the communities they destroy.

@whistlers oh come on! Maybe the prohibition is the problem but the fact remains that it is prohibited and whilst it is this misery continues.

I know it really happened but it sounded like a film.

Wouldn't the others take her water if they didn't have any? Who got her the translation book? How did she get the job in the beauty salon? I bet 100s would have liked that job. She managed to save up £1000. Where did she keep her money?

Also who took the photos of her in the cell blowing the candle out?

Who could be so thick as to think Lima is in Spain and to only realise when she was on the flight to Peru?
Many, many young people you would be surprised.
Some teenagers I work with didn't know that Edinburgh was in Scotland when we did a quiz. Another thought that Wales was part of England and there was an argument about whether Brittany is in France or not. This is from 16 /17 year old teenagers. A lot of them haven't heard of Lima, nevermind Peru.