AN IRISH MAN has told TheJournal.ie that while on holiday in Ibiza this year he was offered a large sum of money to transport the drugs.
Lee, who wishes to remain anonymous, said he was on a four-day stag party in the Sant Antoni de Portmany area when he was approached.
“I was the highlight of all the parties… dancing and making everyone laugh,” explains Lee, but his is how he believes he drew attention to himself.
“I was offered to do a trip and offered €10,000 for a flight over to Benalmadena (town in south Spain) with 1kg,” said Lee.
Although he said he was drunk for much of his time on the party island, he is thankful he sobered up “very fast” and declined the offer. He did not report the incident to Spanish authorities.
He said he feels “so sorry for the girls” [Michaella McCollum Connolly and Melissa Reid who had been in Ibiza and are being held in Peru on suspicion of drug trafficking] now as he can relate with them, “I know what it’s like to be promised the stars, the moon and the sky.”
First Sergeant in Ibiza and head of drugs Alberto Arean Varela believes that drug trafficking is not a major problem in Ibiza and said it is something that happens everywhere. However, he did admit that drugs went hand-in-hand with nightlife and partying and said nightlife and partying is Ibiza.
From his experience of drug trafficking in Ibiza, drug lords choose “people in need”, like drug addicts or people who owe money, to act as drug mules.
He said from his time in the Civil Guard that the case of Michaella McCollum Connolly was the first time he heard of an “Irish person involved”.
“Normally, we don’t arrest many Irish people involving drugs cases here,” he added.
He said when a person is offered to transport drugs there is plenty of help available to them.
“It’s a pity they don’t inform police. We can provide help for them. First thing to do is go to the police station, and we will call the consulate and put in protection and get them home,” he said.
“If someone had to go to South America they must go through several police several times. There is a lot of chances to tell police,” he said.
Twenty-year-old Michaella from Dungannon, Co Tyrone and 19-year-old Mellissa Reid from Glasgow were found almost two weeks ago with around 11kg of cocaine at Jorge Chavez airport as they tried to check into a flight bound for Madrid.
The pair have denied knowledge of the drugs and said they were forced by a gang with guns to carry the bags.
Michaella’s family initially thought she was missing for almost two weeks in Ibiza where she had been living for the summer.
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