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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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“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
Jusr the kind of inconspicuous guy you want to have a kilo of coke up his hole at check in
At least someone has been spared from sharing a cell with Lee.
He’s like the secular equivalent of Fr. Noel Furlong.
@Niall and Ryan thanks for the laugh, great comments :-)
Bahahahahahahahahahahahahhaha!!!!
Wow. Offer 10k to carry a kilo. Thay drug lord is giving away most of his profit to a drunk irish lad with no debts or liability.
Loks like the journal has been well and truely stitched up on a pretend story…
How much is a kilo worth wholesale 40k?
I wouldn’t be surprised if Lee was out of his little head when he gave this story to the Journal,
Offered 10 to take 1, agree, then there is 10kg shoved in the bag.
No he’s not. It’s €100 a gram. There is 1000 grams so 90000 profit. It’s €40 a gram over there so still a 30000 profit.
If the dealer got the stuff for free!
1 Kilo of cocaine bought in Peru costs between $800 – $900.. get your facts straight before you comment
Are you talking to me? I never mentioned any facts other than
You’ve just quoted a load of figures without factoring in the cost!
Cost of what? 40000 – 900 – flights and accommodation for 2 = a buckload of money for the dealer. The cost is nothing in comparison
I’d say Lee hadn’t time to be a ‘mule’ as he was life & soul of the party!
I feel for you Lee , having recently scorned the advances of theses sharks myself. But what really shocks me is the people involved , my auntie Sheila recently tried to get me to take a package containing that deadly drug paracetamol to my uncle Mikes house I was one of the lucky ones not lured in by the promises of tea and a rich tea I feel truly blessed.
You’re lucky you sobered up so quickly or lord knows what would have a happened.
Yes, I could have witnessed an intellectual reply
If I was a drug dealer I would pick the cool, calm, smooth talker at the bar chatting up the ladies not the loud, brash, attention seeker jumping around the dance floor like a lunatic. This story is about as believable as being kidnapped in Ibiza and sent to Peru for drugs by bad men with guns. Oops!
Have to let justice take its course but the conditions in the jails they will face are unreal , I had my own experience in the 80s , ill never forget the deprivation ,the poverty , all the people looking hallow ,constantly begging , all out of their minds ….i was the life of the party there too always attracting attention because i was from Dublin , honestly that’s exactly how a night club in limerick really felt like in the 80s.
Really bud was that the case? Never heard that. You seem to have done a good job bringing it back to the capital. Serious effort taking place around Talbot st, Amiens St, O Connell st, Abbey st etc…the zombies have taken the streets over..stay off the brown brother….
That’s all the culchies Daniel that moved to the city.
I heard it was ‘mysterious man’ that approached them, and he offered them a 2 night stay in Slieve Russell and 25% of their car insurance.
I love “anonymous” articles. You can literally say what you want about whatever you want. The only valid point and complete dig at the girls story comes from the Ibizan policeman when he makes the point ‘they had to go through several police and customs’, plenty of time even if you’re young and innocent and naive to scream and shout and not be “smuggled” to Peru.
Unfortunately I think this is the story the had pre determined in their head for if they got caught. Interested to see how this pans out. Can’t see a Peruvian judge being lenient as it would become every mules defence.
If it was just for personal use they should be shifted onto the next aer Lingus outa Lima. Move on. They’ll be on next yrs big brother no doubt.
I read that those girls said the gang took their mobile phones and passports off them and they were followed onto the plane.
Never mind the not alerting the cops part, how did they get through customs, exiting the EU, without being asked for a passport?
i was asked 2 take a doll ffom turkey 2 te gpo in dublin for a childs birthday,copped on straight away
There are plenty of young lads in Irish prisons, who got forced or intimidated into holding drugs, and nobody feels for them. But 2 young women (1 Irish) get caught up in a drug ring, in another country, which I can’t help think they new what was going on, and we have all to feel sorry for them. I don’t think so
I think it’s more to do with the fact there was a huge social media campaign(with sportspeople even involved) to do with ER being missing and then she showed up in Lima. It adds a different dimension to the story and makes it even more media ready.
Lee’s comment about being offered the sun the moon is garbage.
If they where forced why didn’t they just say it to the police at the airport before they where searched
Again because they were greedy.
It’s seems that the “best”articles lately on the journal are ’10 reasons to go to Spain on holiday’ or “5 ways to conceal cocaine in your luggage”. Is this a news website or a what? I will have to
Dump this app soon if its not improving.
U here stories like this so often on banged up abroad which is such an eye opener to anyone ever tempted and those who were forced against their own will to be drug mules… The price is never worth paying and the consequences devastating. It’s deeply unfortunate for the two girls in Peru
Amy,
Good to see you’re exercising the delete option on the comments of your articles as per usual (today’s non-drug mule story) – where a host of comments were deleted due to criticism of the source.
Why do you have a comments section on your article if you delete opinions that are mildly critical or that you disagree with?
I wonder why people bother, your preferred contributors would seem to Red Thumb Denise and such.
Spot on Buckwheat.
Would we even be hearing about this if it was a couple of young lads? Their story is no different than so many others caught doing the same thing.
Disappointed with the journal posting this ‘exclusive’ non story.
Please tell everyone for my 5 minutes of fame. I was once asked to be a donkey. In the end I had to settle for playing one of the sheep but the shepherds and Joseph and Mary were blocking people’s view of me.
I was really great though…
Drugs ruin lives in more ways than think. Innocent or guilty, those girls are just kids, – who’s lives are now ruined. Their hopes and dreams, their parents hopes and dreams … Gone. Its heart-breaking.
Drugs didn’t do this …greed did. …saddest thing about Lee’s related NON story is continued bandwagoning.
Young yes, kids no. They would’ve been old enough to understand the situation.
@john byrne If you’re going to call someone an idiot at least spell PLAIN correctly.
Oops missed the question mark at the end , I’ll just go and give myself 59 lashes .
A mythical man if ever there was one!! 100% must be just one if those people who always has to outdo someone with a story. If you were to tell him you had a bad cold once he’d have to say “well I nearly died before”
Drug traffickers would be looking for the complete opposite …someone who doesn’t draw attention and NOT looking for the limelight. Saw he just got someone saying it to him in pub messing or drunk themselves but made his holiday!! Awful journalism.
Idiot Lee with 1kg is fingered to customs and gets caught. Customs have ‘significant’ bust, happy days for them. Lee looses his freedom, trafficker looses 1kg as collateral damage while the real mule walks through with 30kg. Simples!
The girls could have said no. If they were forced then they should have gone to the police. I am the same age as them and I wouldn’t be stupid enough to go through with that.
They obviously never heard the reputation of prisions in Peru.
Not to mention what plonker is gonna think that much cocaine wood get through security.
All this being said I still have a lot of sympathy for them. I heard an irish man on an rte radio program saying he was put in prison in peru for trying to smuggle drugs out. He said he got raped by a prison gard on the first night. I dread to think what these young girls are in for.
All drugs should be legal anyway.
No one should be allowed to control what I can or cannot ingest into my body of my own free will.
Anyhow, it’s not really about drugs for them, it’s all about subjugation.
Anybody wiling to throw their lives away over this nonsense deserve all they get. Life might not always be perfect but its surely better than laying in a foreign jail for a few extra quid.
It’s hard to know the truth in these situations ,the powers that be could be just making a example of them or they could be as guilty as sin
At least someone has been spared having to share a cell with Lee.
The temptation of easy money was and always will be just to much for the stupid that think they will get away with it,if it takes a spell in a peruvian jail to teach them a lesson,it will be worth it.
I agree with most comments here, anonymous articles are completely and utterly Pointless, this is why the dispatches thing with Ryanair was such a disaster.
I believe Lee, because I heard of this happening to people over the years, there was a show called banged up abroad on TV a few years ago full of stories like them girls in Peru.
I don’t believe him because there’s no way he would be offered €10,000 to carry 1kg.
They probably interviewed “Lee” as he fell out of Coppers last night – unreliable story written all over this.
Drug lords don’t give all their profit margins away to mules!
€10,000 [€5k each] to carry 11.5kg – as in the case of these 2 young women [they're not girls] – might sound more believable.
Drug traffickers are not really honest people, do you think they would never entice somebody with an offer of say 10k to carry 1kg from Malaga to Ibiza only for the person to find that the 1kg is now 8kg from Peru. I’m not saying that party boy lee isn’t spinning a yarn but he fits the profile of a drugs mule, who do you think they would use, candidate A: poor peasant never left village before, would not get visa and would certainly not have money for travel.
Candidate B: loudmouth party boy probably from wealthy background spending parents money in Ibiza, would not show up on any police reports, stupid enough to believe this is easy money and likes to think he is the bad boy of Blackrock.
Most of the banged up abroad episodes go something like this, Maybe this is where party lee got his story.
Emmm Candidate B: Party boy would probably be stoned out of it, look/act like it, probably got into trouble in the past with lifestyle, wouldn’t know how to cope under stress and would talk as soon as under pressure, would hire good lawyer if caught who would finger the exact criminals etc. You would also be worried the ‘louthmouth’ would start bragging before or after what he was doing it.. to be in limelight and get attention. Also ‘stupid enough’ ….most party boys I know have 0 understanding of reality or real world.
Candidate A: would be in need of money so desperate, family could be controlled more easily if caught, would be off the radar as more used to simple life, would be more quiet and simple so go by unnoticed.
Candidate B: Ran up credit card debt more than he/she could pay back. Gets offered an easy way to make it back in less than 2 weeks. If all goes well the money will be in the bank before parents find out he’s snorted the entire family inheritance and then some. Easy, just bring a few kilos of blow through the airport in your luggage and pretend it’s Horlicks. What could possibly go wrong?
He seem like the sort of chap you’d find in the corner chewing his eyebrows. And chatting like christy brown.
Darren, I don’t believe it either – but “Shame on the journalist” is a bit harsh!
Any one fancy picking up something for me in Peru ?
Lee sounds like he didn’t get much attention as a child
@ Len Raynor. We need to hear your story Len. When’s the book launch ?
No one wins when drugs are involved. No one I tell ya. No one.
Promise true stars,moon and sky = €10,000??? Lmao ten grand is not even one minute star haha
I knew this idiot claiming to be asked to carry drugs reminded me of someone ladies and gents for anyone who watched the inbetweeners movie
http://youtu.be/kO9DTcxXBEc
It’s you I feel sorry for, giving up your valuable time and volunteering in your neighbourhood because of the devastation that illegal drugs, which are controlled by criminal gangs, have caused.
Who could ever replace you?
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