One of the two Quebec women sentenced to prison after trying to import 35 kilos of cocaine into Australia in 2016 could be deported and return home in a few days.
Isabelle Lagacé, whose spectacular arrest aboard a cruise ship made headlines, was convicted in 2017 of importing a commercial quantity of drugs.
Since then, the 30-something has been serving a sentence in Australia, in the state of New South Wales. According to local news site News.com.au, she has a chance of returning home shortly.
During her trial in 2017, the Australian judge sentenced the Quebecer to seven and a half years in detention without the possibility of parole before February 2021.
She should therefore be released this weekend by the Attorney General, while being in the custody of the Department of Home Affairs, according to the Australian site. She will then be deported to Canada.
Without this conditional release, Isabelle Lagacé’s sentence would end in February 2024.
Isabelle Lagacé was arrested in Sidney in August 2016, along with her friend Mélina Roberge and the sexagenarian André Jorge Tamine.
The three Quebecers had been intercepted on board the ship Sea princess, at the end of a dream cruise of around sixty days around the world.
Tracking dogs had discovered about 35 kg of cocaine inside a suitcase located in the cabin shared by the two young women. The boat had docked in Sidney Bay at the time of the seizure.
Nearly 60 kg of the same drug were also discovered in the luggage of Montrealer André Jorge Tamine.
Plead guilty quickly
They all received between seven and a half and eight and a half years in prison. Isabelle Lagacé is the first to have pleaded guilty to the charges in this case.
That’s why she could be granted parole faster than her other two cronies.
Mélina Roberge will also be eligible for parole from May 27, 2021. For his part, André Jorge Tamine may file such a request in March 2022.
This affair, worthy of a Hollywood scenario, had made international media headlines in 2016. Several photos of the two women were published on social networks during their cruise. On these pictures, Quebec women took the stage in paradisiacal landscapes, drinking cocktails or driving an ATV.