Two Canadian drug runners have pleaded guilty to smuggling $21 million worth of cocaine on a cruise ship into Sydney. Melina Roberce, 23, and Andre Tamine, 64, were part of a trio found with four suitcases containing 95 kilograms of cocaine after the Sea Princess docked in Sydney in August 2016.
They used the 51-day cruise from the U.K. through Latin America and then to Australia to transport about AUS $21 million (U.S. $16.5 million) worth of cocaine.
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Both Tamine and Roberce were expected to stand trial in February before they pleaded guilty to a charge of jointly commissioning the importation of a commercial quantity of border controlled drug, the Daily Telegraph reported.
Roberce’s cabin mate Isabelle Lagace, a 29-year-old Canadian adult film actress, was previously sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison on Nov. 3 for her part in smuggling the illegal drugs.
The two women boarded the ship in Southampton, England and regularly posted social media photos documenting their trip.
After she was caught with the drugs, a former boyfriend described Roberce as a “superficial woman always turned on by money and on the lookout for a sugar daddy.”
Roberce and Lagace were detained along with Tamine, who is reportedly a “loner” who lives in a suburb of Montreal with no family ties.
U.S. police were involved in the operation to track the three and their stash, which was allegedly discovered in the trio’s luggage.
DailyMail.com reports that Roberce’s father worried about his daughter when she said she was embarking on a two-month round-the-world cruise, which ultimately ended with her arrest in Sydney. He says he warned her not to go.
Police on three continents are looking into the background of who else may have been involved in the smuggling, which amounted to the biggest ever haul of drugs from a passenger ship or plane.
Authorities say the drugs would have flooded the market in Sydney.
Lagace, who worked in a bar, took off suddenly for the trip, telling few about her plans.
Neither women’s family knows Tamine, who has no spouse or children. He reportedly ran a small maintenance business, which closed in January.
The three had been identified by the U.S. border control agencies of Canada and colleagues in New Zealand as high-risk travelers and suspected of being part of an international drug trafficking cartel.
Australian police have made it clear that the alleged smuggling was part of an “international crime syndicate” and that the drugs were meant to flood the illicit trade in Sydney and surrounding areas.
