Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Two Women Try To Smuggle $30 Million In Drugs and Instagram The Entire Thing

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When a family or business obligation takes you to a far-flung place, it can really cut down on the stress of travel if you make a holiday out of it. Checking for some fun things to do in the area can ease the pace of the journey and give you something to look forward to when you get there.

And when the places you go turn out to be more beautiful than you imagined, you may feel inclined to share your discoveries with the world. After all, your many social media admirers will probably want to see the sights you see, right?

Most of the time, this is a fine idea, but sometimes the purpose of your visit means you need to keep a low profile. A CIA agent, for instance, may encounter a lot of exotic locales on their missions, but they're painting a target on themselves if they get too candid about their location.

Depending on how things unfold, the same could be true for two Canadian women whose Instagram photos of their cruise likely didn't help their case with law enforcement.

COMMENT and tell us about the high-risk TMIs you've come across.

Two months ago, 22-year-old Melina Roberce kicked off the vacation of a lifetime.

She hopped aboard the MS Sea Princess, a luxury cruise liner that started its voyage in the UK and sailed around the Americas before making its final stop in Australia.

Joining Roberce was 28-year-old Isabelle Lagace.

Note her necklace, which serves as a bit of foreshadowing for how their journey unfolded.

Based on their Instagram photos, they certainly seemed impressed with the ship.

This was a good thing because they would be spending a lot of time on it. The liner ended up taking them to Ireland, New York City, French Polynesia, Peru, Chile, Bermuda, and Ecuador before finally landing in Sydney, Australia.

Every leg of their journey came with a new blissful photo.

Between ATV rides in Peru, scenic vistas in Bermuda, and refreshing coconut cocktails in French Polynesia, they seemed to be having the time of their lives.

Little did they know, however, that the good times wouldn't last long.

Underneath all the seaside revelry, there was something more suspicious going on.

63-year-old Andre Tamine was also on the cruise and he allegedly had good reason to be a little more camera shy.

While they never went as far as to show anything illicit, their trip made law enforcement a little curious.

As the trio set sail, the Canadian Border Services Agency, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and the Australian Border Force were starting to talk about them.

When our travelers pulled into the Sydney Harbor, there was a surprise waiting for them.

Border agents, the Australian Federal Police, and their trained sniffer dogs boarded the ship and searched the trio's bags.

In the cabin Lagace and Roberce shared, police allegedly found 35 kilograms of cocaine.

Tamine's cabin apparently held an additional 60 kilos, making this the largest drug bust by boat or plane that Australia has ever seen.

So what happens now?

All told, the seized cocaine is valued at approximately $30 million.

The three have been charged with importing a commercial quantity of cocaine and could face life sentences if convicted.

At the moment, there are still some unanswered questions in the case.

Investigators aren't sure if Lagace and Roberce were working with their co-defendant and it's also unclear whether they boarded with the cocaine in England or acquired it during one of their South American stops.

Whatever the details, it seems authorities were hot on their trail from the beginning.

Canadian Border Services had identified them as "high-risk passengers" and passed what they knew onto Australian officials.

Yet, authorities think they may know why the drugs were headed for Australia.

Cocaine prices are known to be particularly high there due to the difficulty of getting drugs into the isolated nation. Australian prices are apparently up to three times higher than in Canada.

Remember to COMMENT and tell us about other times people should have kept things on the down low.

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Author: verified_user

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