Peruvian prison 'hell': Life after lockup

schumi

schumi

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IT WAS meant to be a one-off. A risky mission, meticulously put together, that would set Troy Neethling up comfortably for years to come.

He would jet off to Peru, acquire a significant quantity of the purest cocaine on the planet, bring it back to Cape Town and sell it for an eye-watering sum of money. Twenty kilograms of coke would go for roughly $20 000 (about R286 000) a kilo. That was the hope.

Instead, Neethling, a former professional diver, ended up spending eight-and-a-half years of his life in one of South America's worst prisons – Sarita Colonia in Peru.

The 45-year-old was arrested on drug trafficking charges at Hugo Chavez International Airport, just outside the capital Lima, in April 2012.

Neethling spoke exclusively to Weekend Argus about his nearly decade-long ordeal. He has been living a sheltered life since returning to the Cape after his release last year. It is the first time he has opened up to anyone outside his family, about his experience being locked up abroad.

The latest figures show that Peru, the world’s second-largest producer of cocaine, accounts for nearly 500 tons of global supply, annually.

Neethling admitted he had been selling small quantities of the drug before his fateful trip to South America.

“At the time I was going through a mid-life crisis. I had just got divorced,: he said. ”My supplier in South Africa said to me: ’The product (cocaine) we're getting here (in the country) is bullsh**. Why don't we just get our own sh**?’

“And instead of waiting for somebody (a drug mule) reliable and ballsy enough to do it (smuggle contraband), I just said: ’You know, f*** it, let me go."

Neethling said his "connections" arranged everything. "All I needed was my passport."

For two weeks he played the role of tourist in Lima; soaking up the sun at the city's beaches, drinking beer and enjoying meals at local restaurants.
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More at: https://www.iol.co.za/weekend-argus...r-lockup-0e0071ca-1ff1-4790-b6ea-ecc517fe2b10
 
SoldierMan said:
Like when playing a game of poker, if you don't know who the mark is, you're the mark.

Even if that is not true in this situation, it was a dumbass thing to do.
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At least he didn't try it from some of those South East Asian countries that have the death penalty for drug trafficking... Eight and a half years seems like a decent deal compared to some countries.
 
SoldierMan said:
Like when playing a game of poker, if you don't know who the mark is, you're the mark.

Even if that is not true in this situation, it was a dumbass thing to do.
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That is what he seems to think happened.

He was carrying 20kgs but someone else was carrying more. He was tipped off and pulled aside so the person carrying more could get through.
 
thestaggy said:
That is what he seems to think happened.

He was carrying 20kgs but someone else was carrying more. He was tipped off and pulled aside so the person carrying more could get through.
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I have read some estimates that the drug lords have so much product that even if only one drug mule in 5 gets through they still make a massive profit.
 
Cray said:
I have read some estimates that the drug lords have so much product that even if only one drug mule in 5 gets through they still make a massive profit.
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Quite easily...

They do have "mules" who are designated as targets and are tipped off to the local police just so that the police are seen to be doing "something" and achieving something.... 2 or 3 other guys on the same flight have just as much product but just sail through.
 
Cray said:
I have read some estimates that the drug lords have so much product that even if only one drug mule in 5 gets through they still make a massive profit.
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Believable.

I follow news on the Mexican cartels and coke is actually very cheap to produce relative to selling price, so it makes sense to sacrifice - even deliberately so - a few mules so the main one can get through.

Again from following the Mexican cartels, I wouldn't even be surprised if they themselves make the tip-off as the system is so corrupt. Make law enforcement look good when they catch a mule and seize product, but in reality you are still paying them off and your drugs still got through with their knowledge.
 
Director of the NGO Locked Up Patricia Gerber said most of the South Africans locked up in South America were behind bars for drug-related crimes. Dirco, however, would not confirm that.

She was scathing in her criticism of the South African government’s efforts to repatriate prisoners to serve the remainder of their sentences at home.
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Do the crime, do the time - in the country where you did the crime.
 
thestaggy said:
That is what he seems to think happened.

He was carrying 20kgs but someone else was carrying more. He was tipped off and pulled aside so the person carrying more could get through.
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If you have DSTV, you must watch some of the suckers that come through airport security and get caught. You hear their stories and right away know, yip they were the sucker who got sacrificed..
 
Cray said:
At least he didn't try it from some of those South East Asian countries that have the death penalty for drug trafficking... Eight and a half years seems like a decent deal compared to some countries.
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Yip, the death penalty. Man, it wouldn't even enter my mind to smuggle in those countries. Goes without saying that no amount of money is worth that.
 
SoldierMan said:
If you have DSTV, you must watch some of the suckers that come through airport security and get caught. You hear their stories and right away know, yip they were the sucker who got sacrificed..
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The "Banged up abroad" series has an awful lot of these.... Their stories are all a variation of them being promised holidays abroad in exchange for transporting something back to the UK.. They all have this rehearsed air of naivety but you know that 99% of them knew exactly what they were carrying...
 
...when the article starts up in a way to portray a drug mule as an innocent.
Criminal activity...check. Knowing it'll ruin people's lives...check. Someone greedy enough to do this...check.

We shouldn't care and we shouldn't be writing articles about them.
 
daveza said:
Do the crime, do the time - in the country where you did the crime.
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Except if you're butternuttedly orientated and corruption is just a crime when wypipo do it, then its fine - nay a divine right - for your democratically elected gang membas to bestow medical parole on you, of course..
 
daveza said:
Do the crime, do the time - in the country where you did the crime.
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I think prisoner transfer agreements are actually quite a good idea.
Dated statistics, produced by the Department of Correctional Services in 2011, indicate that there were then about 5,000 foreign prisoners serving time in SA jails. The figure for our citizens serving time in foreign jails (mainly for drug related offences) is informally estimated at approximately 1,000, possibly more. Many may not be dealers but rather drug mules, often women. If SA were to conclude prisoner transfer agreements with countries in which its citizens are incarcerated this could lead to an immediate net loss of about 4,000 of the current prison population in SA. A 2014 NICRO report estimates the average cost of incarceration ranges between R 123.00 and R 329.00 per inmate per day.
...


The fact that our citizens may commit crimes in foreign climes and find themselves in foreign jails does not in any way detract from the obligation of the state to respect and protect their rights. Most prisoners stand a better chance of rehabilitation and re-integration in society upon their release if they are able to keep contact with their families, friends and loved ones while in prison. It ought to be plain that the conclusion of prisoner transfer agreements is a good way to attempt to avoid the possibility of recidivism. Zambia concluded prisoner transfer agreements to reduce overcrowding in its correctional facilities.

...

Swopping foreign prisoners in local jails in exchange for SA prisoners incarcerated abroad also makes economic sense. It is costly to keep prisoners in jail at tax-payers’ expense. Additional expenses are often incurred in respect of foreign prisoners who do not speak any SA languages, not only in respect of legal and parole proceedings affecting them but even in respect of everyday medical attention and treatment which they may require.

The prospects of rehabilitating foreign prisoners serving time in SA jails are slimmer than those in respect of local prisoners who have their networks and families to return to upon their release. Often foreign prisoners are repatriated on their release because their visas have expired and they have no further entitlement to remain in SA after the expiry of their terms of imprisonment. This too puts a strain on the already strained public purse.
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Why we need prisoner transfer agreements - OPINION | Politicsweb

Paul Hoffman notes that in 2011 there were 5 000 foreign nationals in our jails, while there are about 1 000 South Africans jailed abroad
www.politicsweb.co.za www.politicsweb.co.za


The least that DIRCO could do would be to provide an interpreter.
 
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