{UAH} Drug smuggling case of glamorous Quebec ‘cocaine cowgirls’ ends with guilty pleas in Australia
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Drug smuggling case of glamorous Quebec 'cocaine cowgirls' ends with guilty pleas in Australia
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Mélina Roberge, 25, and Andre Tamine, 65, entered guilty pleas in court in Sydney, Australia, following the guilty plea in November of their travelling companion, Isabelle Lagace, 30, who is a former pornographic model.
The arrests of the women captured headlines around the world partly because of the amount of cocaine seized — valued by police at $30 million — but mostly because of the trove of glamour photos Roberge and Lagace had shared of their luxurious bikini-clad trip of the lengthy cruise vacation on social media.
The two were dubbed "cocaine cowgirls," a play on the south Florida drug importers of the 1980s who were called "cocaine cowboys."
Almost lost among the coverage was Tamine, a Quebec man, who was also on board the cruise ship with cocaine and whom authorities said was part of a larger cocaine smuggling conspiracy.
Roberge and Tamine originally denied involvement in the drug scheme — with Roberge's lawyer earlier telling court she knew nothing about the contents of the suitcase in the small cabin she shared with Lagace — but changed their pleas to guilty ahead of scheduled trials in hopes of receiving a break on sentencing; the maximum penalty for importing a commercial quantity of cocaine into Australia is life imprisonment.
The trio boarded the MS Sea Princess in England for the 40-day vacation cruise that stopped at Ireland, United States, South America — including drug transit points of Colombia, Panama and Ecuador — and across the South Pacific to New Zealand, Tahiti and eventually Australia.
Along the way, the women uploaded several photos of their jaunts to Instagram and Facebook, photos that became fodder to illustrate stories of the sudden change in circumstances for the pair.
Once the ship berthed in Sydney Harbour on Aug. 28, 2016, Australia Federal Police and Australia Border Police agents using drug-detection dogs searched a number of cabins, including two cabins rooming the three Canadians. About 35 kilos of cocaine were found in a suitcase under a bed in the women's cabin and about 60 kilos in the cabin of Tamine, police said.
Police announced the seizure with some fanfare.
It was the largest drug cache found onboard a passenger ship in Australia.
Police called the drug scheme the work part of an international drug syndicate and said the seizure and arrests were a joint operation between Australian authorities and the Canada Border Services Agency, along with U.S. Department of Homeland Security Investigations and New Zealand Customs Service.
"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," Assistant Commissioner Clive Murray said at the time at a press conference.
The investigation was continuing and more arrests could be coming, police said.
Lagace, a former porn model, admitted her role early on. She told court she agreed to the smuggling trip to repay a $20,000 debt to someone in Canada, local media reported.
She was sentenced in November to seven and a half years in prison. She must serve at least four and a half years befores being eligible to apply for parole.
A prosecutor called the cruise ship "a floating warehouse" for drugs with the three Canadians minders for the hidden cargo while en route. All three of the cruise tickets for the Canadians were booked through the same travel agency, court heard.
On Friday, Roberge entered her new plea of guilty, which was accepted by the judge, according to court documents. She is scheduled for a sentencing hearing on March 21.
Tamine changed his plea a week earlier, which was also accepted by the judge, according to court documents. He is scheduled for a sentencing on Oct. 26.
A former cellmate of Roberge at the Silverwater Women's Correctional Centre in Australia told the National Post the woman in real life was not like the image seen in the media.
She said Roberge was down to earth and friendly and "just like everyone else here," despite her media fame.
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