Women charged over $30 million drug smuggle; Instagrammed whole trip
It was an Instagram-worthy trip that has ended badly for three Canadians in Australia.
André Tamine, 63, Isabelle Lagacé, 28, and Melina Roberge, 22, all from Quebec, have been charged with importing a commercial quantity of cocaine, according to the Associated Press.
95 kilograms (200 lbs) were seized by the Australian Federal Police on a cruise ship docked in Sydney on Sunday. Worth A$31 million ($23 million), it's the largest ever seizure of narcotics carried by passengers of a cruise ship or airliner in the country.
It could also land the trio with a maximum penalty of life imprisonment, ending a halcyon-looking journey Down Under. Authorities aren't yet able to establish how the trio are connected, or where and when the drugs made their way onto the cruise ship.
The trio were on the MS Sea Princess, a cruise that began its two-month journey from England, according to the Toronto Star. It made several stops on the way in North America, the Caribbean and South America, a trip that's been covered in the social media accounts of Lagacé and Roberge.
Oddly, it looks like any other collection of holiday snaps on Instagram, whether that be frolicking on the beaches of the Pacific or standing on top of cliffs in Ecuador.
Australian authorities worked with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the New Zealand Customs Service and the Canada Border Services Agency in the operation, identifying the trio as "high-risk passengers."
"These syndicates should be on notice that the Australian Border Force is aware of all of the different ways they attempt to smuggle drugs into our country and we are working with a range of international agencies to stop them," Australian Border Force Assistant Commissioner, Clive Murray, said in a statement.
The Toronto Star notes that Canadian cocaine traffickers had an interest in Australia, with seizures increasing in the country in recent years.
Mashable have chosen to omit the Instagram handles of the women charged.
