Cassie Sainsbury, a well-known convicted drug smuggler, has said she was recruited into a Columbian cocaine network through a Sydney brothel.
In a candid interview with 7News Spotlight that aired Sunday night, Sainsbury disclosed for the first time that she was a member of the global drug ring that resulted in her stunning arrest.
In April 2017, Sainsbury was detained at the Colombian airport of Bogota as she boarded a journey to London with 5.8kg of cocaine concealed in 18 headphone boxes inside her bag.
She asserts that her Sydney brothel madame, who observed Sainsbury didn’t love ‘entertaining’ guests, introduced her to the organised criminal underground.
She said that she felt a little empathetic since she was aware that some individuals like doing it while others do not.
She stated her buddy was often seeking for someone to make deliveries into Sydney and that he was laid-back, a wonderful friend, dependable, and trustworthy.
“I felt like she was really trying to assist me,” she said.
Sainsbury said that part of her duties included travelling around Sydney and delivering “papers” to prominent businesses in the CBD.
She claimed, however, that she had no idea that she was really delivering cocaine, adding, “I was extremely naïve.”
The receptionist took the parcel off of me and placed it in a cubby when I got at the premises.
One caught my attention—it was an orthodontist.
Sainsbury estimated that she would be paid $100 to $150 for each delivery.
The essential term was confidential, she claimed.
Sainsbury would do anywhere between two and fifteen tasks a week, which she has now realised were cocaine deliveries.
Before all of this, she hadn’t realised how much had been utilised, she claimed.
“It’s really a great eye opener,” someone said.
Sainsbury’s life, however, took a tragic turn when she was instructed to go to London with another employee to pick up some paperwork.
Sainsbury added, “We were told London, not Columbia.”
Sincerely, I was such a fool that I didn’t see it until I looked back.
I really believed that I would be able to recover papers.
When she boarded her aircraft and discovered she was going to Bogota, Columbia’s capital, rather than London, she initially realised something wasn’t right.
Sainsbury said that he had to Google up Bogota since he was unsure of its location.
Everything was alright, it was just a tiny snag, and I should follow instructions, I was assured.
Sainsbury said that she felt hopeless about the journey and was unsure of how to leave.
She said, “I didn’t know how to go home.”
I had been warned that something would happen to me if I didn’t follow through because I was being followed.
Threats alone, however, were unable to keep Sainsbury in place. She went to a travel agency to get the cheapest airfare home since she was determined to get away.
She said that “one of the drug ring members” was there when she left.
I’ve never been a huge drinker, and he brought me to his place and offered me some water since I had no control over my body.
Sainsbury said that during her stay in Columbia, she was drugged, sexually assaulted, and imprisoned.
She said that the fact that she was aware of what was happening yet unable to intervene made things worse.
I was afraid because “I wasn’t left alone.”
She alleges that the person who sexually assaulted her also packed her luggage for the travel to London.
I was aware of what was within, but I had no other options.
Sainsbury spoke of passing through airport security, feeling relieved after checking her luggage, and then experiencing terror when hearing her name announced over the loudspeakers at the departure gates.
Four police officers, according to her, approached her and led her into a room with 18 headphones cases spread out on a table.
She at first felt relieved, believing there was a possibility that she was merely smuggling equipment.
She remarked, “Stupid me didn’t imagine there were rolls of cocaine in the packs of headphones.”
Sainsbury said she informed the Australian Federal Police about the link between the Sydney brothel and the cocaine network, but they chose not to look into it.
Both Sainsbury’s submission and the absence of a follow-up inquiry were verified by the AFP to Seven.