Melina Roberge, a drug mule who Instagrammed the cruise vacation she took in order to smuggle cocaine into Australia, was sentenced Wednesday to eight years in prison for her part in the crime.
Quebec resident Roberge, 24, was tearful when she was sentenced in the New South Wales state District Court, the Toronto Star reported. She pleaded guilty to smuggling cocaine in her suitcase, part of a group of three people from Quebec who brought a total of 95 kilograms of the drug worth almost $16 million (U.S.) onto the cruise ship.
Roberge will serve at least four years and nine months of her sentence before she can be paroled, but could have received a life sentence for the crime, the Star reported. Her accomplice and cabinmate, Isabelle Lagace, 29, was sentenced in November to seven-and-a-half years for her part in the crime, and both Lagace and Roberge will likely be deported after they serve their nonparole period.
The third accomplice, Andre Tamin, 65, will be sentenced in October, the Star reported.
"She was seduced by the lifestyle and the opportunity to post glamorous Instagram photos from around the world. She wanted to be the envy of others," Judge Kate Traill said of Roberge at the sentencing, The Washington Post reported. "I doubt she is now."
Roberge became known as “Cocaine Babe” in the headlines about the case because of her photos. The Instagram account was taken down after her arrest.
Border agents said there was so much cocaine in the women’s suitcases that they “did not have much room for clean underwear or spare toothbrushes,” the Post reported.
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