Quebecois cocaine cowgirls
- Thread starter PopeDover
- Start date
I remember there was a long debate at the time that Florida executed serial rapist-murderer Ted Bundy in the late 1980s or so, about who (if anyone) really deserves the death penalty. One of my extremely liberal law school professors opined that Bundy, who had actually gone to law school, had no redeeming qualities and he could not think of good reason to spare him from execution.
More recently, in Connecticut, 2 events shaped the abolition of the death penalty in 2011. The first was the execution of Michael Ross, like Bundy a well educated, white, serial rapist murderer who was executed in 2006. Then in the summer of 2007 the Cheshire home invasion rape-murders of a local doctor's wife and two daughters spawned the final debate. The two perpetrators were given the death penalty but after its abolition by the Connecticut Supreme Court as unconstitutionally cruel and unusual punishment, their sentences were commuted to life imprisonment.
I believe that the death penalty for drug offenses seems a bit harsh. At the current time based on what we know, it would seem that the Quebecoise Cowgirls are faced with very long prison sentences and no prospects of getting out of an Australian jail any time soon. The 63 year old Tamine seems likely destined to die in prison and, perhaps, will never set foot in Canada again.
Here's a brief report on Wednesday's court appearance:
3 Canadians refused bail after appearing in Australian court on drug charges
Accused face potential life sentences if convicted
The Canadian Press Posted: Oct 25, 2016 10:08 PM ET Last Updated: Oct 26, 2016 7:35 AM ET
Three Canadian cruise ship passengers, including two women from Quebec, charged in Australia with drug smuggling were refused bail Wednesday after making a court appearance in Sydney.
Isabelle Lagace, 28, and Melina Roberge, 23, were arrested in late August along with Andre Tamine, 64, after the MS Sea Princess, operated by California-based Princess Cruises, berthed in the Australian metropolis.
Detection dogs helped police allegedly find 95 kilograms of cocaine in their suitcases, according to Australian Border Force commander Tim Fitzgerald.
Fitzgerald alleged at the end of August that 35 kilograms of cocaine were found in suitcases in a cabin the women shared and 60 kilograms were discovered in the man's luggage in a separate cabin.
The drugs were worth an estimated $30.5 million.
The next court date is Dec. 7. The Sydney courthouse could not confirm Wednesday if the accused entered a plea.
The Canadians face potential life sentences if convicted.
______
Here's an August article from Le Journal de Montreal that includes many of the photos posted by the girls before their trip went terribly wrong:
All the photos from the dream trip of the two girls before their arrest
Here's a link to the profile with nude photos and a couple of videos of one of the girls ("Izabel") on a softcore (pay) photo site called Flashy Babes.
3 Canadians refused bail after appearing in Australian court on drug charges
Accused face potential life sentences if convicted
The Canadian Press Posted: Oct 25, 2016 10:08 PM ET Last Updated: Oct 26, 2016 7:35 AM ET
Three Canadian cruise ship passengers, including two women from Quebec, charged in Australia with drug smuggling were refused bail Wednesday after making a court appearance in Sydney.
Isabelle Lagace, 28, and Melina Roberge, 23, were arrested in late August along with Andre Tamine, 64, after the MS Sea Princess, operated by California-based Princess Cruises, berthed in the Australian metropolis.
Detection dogs helped police allegedly find 95 kilograms of cocaine in their suitcases, according to Australian Border Force commander Tim Fitzgerald.
Fitzgerald alleged at the end of August that 35 kilograms of cocaine were found in suitcases in a cabin the women shared and 60 kilograms were discovered in the man's luggage in a separate cabin.
The drugs were worth an estimated $30.5 million.
The next court date is Dec. 7. The Sydney courthouse could not confirm Wednesday if the accused entered a plea.
The Canadians face potential life sentences if convicted.
______
Here's an August article from Le Journal de Montreal that includes many of the photos posted by the girls before their trip went terribly wrong:
All the photos from the dream trip of the two girls before their arrest
Here's a link to the profile with nude photos and a couple of videos of one of the girls ("Izabel") on a softcore (pay) photo site called Flashy Babes.
The article doesn't say if the girls and Tamine have counsel and I am curious to know if they have public defenders like most indigent drug defendants or higher priced private counsel funded by a third party. If they have PDs the cartel has likely washed their hands of these mules.
Pretty short story. Denied bail was predictable because of the gravity and they can vanish in no time without coming back to court. They will find time is very long in there till next trial in December. But I would like to find out also if they had public defenders or high priced lawyers. That will tell us if the Godfather dropped them or not !
I scoured the news stories on the Internet and none of them mention whether the girls have counsel or if counsel requested bail on their behalf. The stories just say bail was denied which is no surprise since they are all huge flight risks.
However from this Gazette story we know that Melina Roberge is a New York Yankees fan, so I would be curious to know if the jail has cable TV and whether they can tap into YES so she could watch some Yankees games to pass the time:
http://montrealgazette.com/news/loc...rug-trafficking-in-australia-to-remain-jailed
However from this Gazette story we know that Melina Roberge is a New York Yankees fan, so I would be curious to know if the jail has cable TV and whether they can tap into YES so she could watch some Yankees games to pass the time:
http://montrealgazette.com/news/loc...rug-trafficking-in-australia-to-remain-jailed
If there was a Godfather they would not be high priced lawyer or lawyers ,the objective of a criminal organization when they assigned lawyers is so the person arrested will accept a guilty plea ,not acquittal of them ,the other advantage is that then have access to evidence while paying the lawyers .
In this case, would that be a necessity?
What would the 3 persons arrested know that can incriminate the Godfather ?
The arrest is already two months ago ?
Cheers
Booker
Unless they want to have another $30 million mistake, they want a good pair of eyes to look at that prosecutor's file and see exactly how this bust went down so this doesn't happen again. It's called intelligence, in this world you pay for good intelligence with eyes that know what to look for. They cannot rely on those 3 stunods to tell them what went wrong, if they did then Godfather is dumber than the 3 mules are.
With a high priced lawyer comes well placed LE contacts who get the backchannel on what went down. Most really good criminal lawyers I know have PIs on retainer that are former cops that get all the intel they ever need cuz they still talk to their former colleagues.
Of most importance would be the source of the tip.
Where are they going to escape to? The outback? :lol:
They could flee and it would be a pain for the cops to track them down but it wouldn't take long. They would stick out like kangaroos in downtown Montreal would.
Even if they had been granted bail, I'm sure that their passports were seized and there is no way to leave Australia by air or sea without showing a passport. It's a large continent but it is completely surrounded by water and you can't get on a plane or a ship bound for another country without showing a passport.
I imagine the no-bail ruling was because of the seriousness of the charge, i.e., the huge amount of cocaine seized. I'm afraid that Australian authorities will want to make an example of these poor girls and their gentleman friend. Speaking of him, I haven't read any background info on him. Does he have a criminal record or organized crime association? Who the hell is this guy?
Another reason to deny them bail and keep them in jail is so that the authorities can interrogate them about their partners in Australia. To whom was this big shipment going to be delivered? I'm sure that the girls and the guy didn't know about the whole distribution network but they are a starting point for tracing the parts of a big drug distribution network. There is a chance that the three would be offered a reduced sentence in exchange for good information. But I don't think they will walk away from this anytime soon.
Hello all and EB
Your speculation here is great, if the Godfather wants to keep this market open ,information that we do not have
Cheers
Booker
However there is nothing in this file, up now that suggest that there was any intel on the way to introduce the luggage ,everyone was caught off guard
I also agree here,
Most criminal organization are directly connected with LE ,no need to have High priced lawyers for this .
Your speculation here is great, if the Godfather wants to keep this market open ,information that we do not have
Cheers
Booker
I bet these 2 party girls thought they were going on a fun once in a lifetime vacation in exchange for taking a small amount of cocaine through customs - only to find out they were duped into a major smuggling operation. Check out this series "Banged Up Abroad" with 2 American party girls, who got caught trying to smuggle cocaine out of Peru. It's hard not to feel for these girls.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSCsPLdIst0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSCsPLdIst0
You are assuming the press knows everything the prosecutor knows. We don't know that. All investigative materials are not in the court file. Surveillance videos and other evidence are not in the Court file. A seasoned attorney will look at a court file and know what is not there that needs to be seen. Furthermore, what should be of most interest to the Cartel is who tipped off the authorities. The press reports I read strongly suggested that the tip came from the Canadian authorities and they in turn may have been tipped off by a rat within the organization, for all that we know. If a high priced local attorney is retained with a seasoned PI already on retainer (or on staff at the bigger law firms), he will talk to who got that tip and do a trace all the way back to the informant.
You make it sound like the Quebec cartel has plants in the Australian LE. If they did, the bust might not have happened, as the mules would have been tipped off, or at worst it would have gone down differently with an attempt to ditch or transport the drugs off the ship. As you said they were caught off guard. My guess is they don't have jack shit as far as a contact or a plant within Australian LE. For all that we know, this was a test run with sacrificial mules. If so, you either learn something from it, or you learn shit, and repeat the same $30 million mistake or mistakes again and again until you give up. If you have a good pair of eyes on the ground, i.e., a seasoned criminal defense attorney, chances are you will gather information that will prevent the mistake from happening again. The high priced attorney is being hired to investigate the investigation, to attack it as flawed if possible, but above all and most importantly, to explain how the investigation went down and provide information on what operational issues need to be corrected so it does not happen again.
Keep in mind these are all legitimate objectives for a criminal defense attorney who is breaking no laws by gathering information and LE strategy, even if the Cartel then uses that information to attempt a second go round at getting that cocaine in to Australia. The Cartel and the second round mules would be the lawbreakers. In these situations the reasons for getting the Intel is not discussed, and is obvious so it doesn't need to be.
That is exactly what I think too. At some point near Australia they probably learned that the amount was much much larger, but what could they do?
I happen to agree as well. As I said earlier I believe these two girls, who by all accounts were classic Sugar Babies, met Tamine, a Cartel Stooge, on a Sugar Daddy website and were offered a prepaid cruise for Sugar Baby favors. They probably were told that part of the Sugar services would be to act as couriers for a small amount of contraband. At some point Tamine, whose real role was as the mechanic to transport the drugs, stashed their suitcases as they got near port. It was in some respects a set up. The fact is that young girls on Sugar Daddy websites can very easily be seduced with travel offers. Have any of you guys used the Miss Travel website? I will bet that is where Tamine or someone posing as Tamine from the Cartel found these girls. Everything I have read about Tamine's role in this operation suggests to me he is a relative of someone in the Cartel, a down on his luck dude who they thought could pull off the role of the dapper, sophisticated Sugar Daddy, while also having the capability to execute the transport of the drugs on the ground level. I believe Tamine was duped into thinking that if he got the drugs in the girls' suitcases, he would not be charged if something went wrong or at worst, he would have a very minor charge. I think there is a lot more on Tamine's role that we do not know. A good guess is that he had a much bigger role in and more knowledge of the criminality of the enterprise than the girls did.
Totally agree. Question, let's say when they discover the amount of drug was much larger near Australia and they decide to alert authorities, they would be in the exact same shit or they would have had some kind of relief?
Cheers,
Pictures indicate that the drugs filled the entire suitcase. How can anyone think they were duped by the quantity. Its not a few keys stuffed in the lining.
Because they did not travel all over the world with that amount, no way. Actually, they were probably drug free the whole trip except the last destination before Australia. Which probably got into the boat by a fourth party. That is where they learned, or maybe Tamine waited even further before stuffing their luggage.
Cheers,
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