Peru Drugs: Melissa Reid 'To Plead Guilty'

[Jazzy]

A Briton arrested on suspicion of trying to smuggle £1.5m of cocaine out of Peru will reportedly plead guilty in exchange for a short sentence.

Melissa Reid, from Glasgow, has struck a deal with prosecutors that will give her a formal sentence of six years and eight months, according to the Mail on Sunday.

The newspaper said her family believe it could mean she is freed in less than three years - and may also be transferred to a UK jail.

Reid was stopped at Lima's airport on August 6 - along with Michaella McCollum from Northern Ireland - with 11kg (24lb) of cocaine hidden in food packets while trying to board a flight to Spain.

Following their arrest, the women said they had been threatened at gunpoint and forced to smuggle the cocaine by a criminal gang.

The 20-year-old told the Mail on Sunday that prosecutors would crucially drop claims that she was being paid to carry the drugs.

Speaking from prison, she told the newspaper: "After a lot of thought and advice from my lawyer I am going to go in front of the judge and admit I was in possession of the drugs and that I went to Peru to pick up drugs to take to Spain - I am willing to plead guilty to that.

"I did it under duress, I still maintain that, and I am glad I do not have to say I accepted money to do it."

The pair, who had been working in Ibiza, were facing up to 15 years in prison for drug trafficking.

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She's lucky the prosecutors even offered her a deal.