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The compelling tale of three Canadians caught smuggling 95 kilograms of cocaine into Australia has seemingly reached its end.
The second of two Canadian women involved was sentenced to eight years in prison on Wednesday for her part in smuggling an estimated $21 million of cocaine on a cruise ship.
Mélina Roberge, 24, and her travel companion originally set out on a 51-day cruise from Dover, England in July 2016, for the trip of a lifetime. Or at least that's how it appeared on Instagram.
'She wanted to be the envy of others': Canadian Melina Roberge jailed for role in cruise ship cocaine-smuggling ring https://t.co/UZGwYiBzy8
— The Sydney Morning Herald (@smh) April 18, 2018
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, New South Wales District Court judge Kate Traill sentenced Roberge saying, “the young woman was not only motivated by money but by the proposition of posting Instagram photos of herself in exotic locations.”
Her and travel companion Isabelle Lagace cruised to countries Canada, the US, South America, and New Zealand, all the while documenting their travels with several Instagram posts.
"It is sad they seek to attain such a vacuous existence where how many likes they receive is their currency.
“She wanted to be the envy of others. I doubt she is now,” said Judge Traill.
When the two arrived in Sydney, however, the trip came to an abrupt and troublesome end.
Australian Border Force officers were waiting for her and they searched her cabin upon arrival, which is where they found the cocaine.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that border officers found 30 individually wrapped packages of cocaine, each weighing about one kilogram.
They were found inside a suitcase, which was put inside another big black suitcase and hidden under her bed.
Roberge was the last of the third Canadian to plead guilty in the case.
Her travel companion Legace was sentenced last November to seven years and six months in prison.
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