The story of former drug mule Michaella McCollum is to be explored in a new BBC documentary which airs on July 5 in Northern Ireland.
The Co Tyrone native was arrested at Lima airport alongside Melissa Reid from Scotland after the pair were caught trying to smuggle 11kg of cocaine out of Peru's capital back in August 2013.
Dubbed the 'Peru Two', they were sentenced to almost seven years in prison, before being released on probation after serving three years.
At the start of the BBC series, Michaella said: “That’s me, Michaella McCollum. Age 19, I became one half of the Peru Two and an owner of the world’s most infamous up-do.”
At the beginning of that summer she took her first foreign holiday in search of sun and a bit of adventure and revelled in parties, podium dancing and getting high in the hedonistic island of Ibiza.
Then she met a handsome stranger called Davey who groomed her over a series of weeks before he persuaded her to pick up a package for him while she was high on acid at a villa party in return for £5,000.
“He made it sound like a walk in the park”, she adds. “I literally thought a small package of, I obviously thought it was drugs, I
definitely didn’t think it was going to be anything big.”
The new six-part series is entitled 'High: Confessions of a Drug Mule' and will tell the story of how McCollum served her prison sentence and ‘rose through the ranks of the prison eventually becoming known as the Delegada’, the highest ranking prisoner in her wing, where she ran a pop-up beauty salon for fellow inmates.
When will 'High' be on TV in Northern Ireland?
'High: Confessions of a Drug Mule' will air in Northern Ireland this week on BBC One.
Episode 1 will be shown tonight, Monday, July 5, at 10.35pm.
This will be followed by Episode 2 on Thursday, July 8, at 10.35pm.
Episode 3 will air on Tuesday, July 13, at 10.35pm, with Episode 4 on Wednesday, July 14, at 10.35pm and Episode 5 taking to our screens on Thursday, July 15, at 10.35pm.
Episodes are also available to stream on the BBC iPlayer.
