Monday 13 June 2011

Banged up Abroad

I watched most of the series last summer on a recommendation from a friend. The series is called "Locked up Abroad" in North America. It is a documentary series about Americans and Brits who get arrested in third world countries. Actors are used to reenact events while interviews with those actually involved. Everyone I recommended the series to loved it.




As you can expect most of those arrested were trying to smuggle drugs. They ranged from those down on their luck trying to make extra money, addicts who needed money, some who were just not very bright. Though several played themselves off as victims most were not.




The first episode I saw featured two of the dumbest people of the series. These two women from California did their very best to make Americans looks as dumb, vapid, shallow, ignorant and naive as possible. They were persuaded by a friend to bring some cocaine back from Peru after spending a week there. The women thought it would be a good thing, they would get to party it up on the tropical beaches of Peru. . . . . And it was summer which would be the perfect time to do. Peru is a popular tourist destination. Millions go there to see the beautiful mountains and ancient Inca ruins. Exactly the kind of things two vapid California girls could care less about. What they found was a mountainous country that was mostly overcast and rather chilly. Yes, since it was summer in California it meant it was winter in the southern hemisphere, where Peru is. Something else the vapid girls did not realize.

After spending a week in a Peruvian hotel, terrified out of their minds by the drug smugglers, the girls got ready to go home. The cocaine they were to smuggle was perfectly sealed in the casing of suitcases. The entire plot was set to go off without a hitch, except for the vapid girls. They might as well have been carrying a sign that said "drug mule" with them at the air port. When the customs agent asked what they had been up to in Peru they badly mispronounced the names of the two famous Inca sites, Machu Picchu and cusco. So they were taken to a back room where customs agents found the cocaine in their luggage.

Being as vapid and spoiled as they are, they expected to be let onto their plane after explaining the cocaine did not belong to them, they were only smuggling it for a gang in town. So it came as quite a shock when they were hauled to the central jail in Lima. It also came as shock when someone from the US embassy showed up and the girls found out the US government would not tell Peru to let them go. Not sure their logic here, they were trying to smuggle cocaine to the US and expected the US government to help get them freed. Maybe they had never heard of the War on Drugs since it seems there is an awful lot they had never heard of.

So they spent the next three years in a Peruvian prison. They thought it was the worst thing in the world. They were locked up with a collection of other female prisoners. Mostly prostitutes and petty thieves. I hope the two vapid girls realize how lucky they are to have not made it out of Peru with the cocaine. Had they been caught in the US they would have been looking at 10-20 years in a federal prison locked up with cracked out gang bangers.

If this description goes over well I will include more accounts of people "banged up abroad."

29 comments:

  1. Ha ha wow, they sound like a couple of winners. Unfortunately, there are more than a few girls out here in California like that.

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  2. Interesting...
    I think we have similar interests!

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  3. One sees interesting probably see it:P xd

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  4. maybe next week ill check it out :C

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  5. Sweet. I love drugs!

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  6. im going travelling soon haha

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  7. I watched one episode of it, it is a very interesting documentary.

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  8. Looks good, i can check it.

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  9. i love this, seen most of these already

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  10. I'll check it out. Personally i prefer An Idiot Abroad though.

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  11. haha oh man id like to meet the real girls involved and see if they are as dumb as you make them sound

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  12. Sounds like National Geographic has been up to some really really interesting stuff since I last saw it. I wonder if this is up on Youtube.

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  13. I was just watching the Nation Geographic Channel the other day, and saw a "Lockdown: Eastern European" edition. I don't know if its out on DVD yet, but I highly recommend that too. Its crazy to see the contrast between North American prisons compared to some in Germany, Poland, Serbia...

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  14. your really great mmmm

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  15. Great funny and sad story, Now i will look up for Locked up Abroad, look good.

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  16. Loved the description of the "vapid" girls.

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  17. Jesus, how dumb can you be.... Vapid valley girls I guess.

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  18. ^ An Idiot Abroad. I thoroughly enjoyed that series on Discovery Channel. It really gave a different perspective of many popular tourist sites.

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  19. ah that sounds really interesting, might check it out.

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  20. Need to check that out later! :D

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  21. this is why I don't travel, well that and lack of money

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  22. The worlds just messed up now adays eh?

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  23. And this is why I despair for my generation

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  24. Oh god... Anyway I will check out this series so thanks for sharing!

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  25. watched it in Singapore and as bad as some of those RL stories ended i absolutely loved the way they were told and shown.

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  26. I love this series! I'm addicted to crime-related reality series. A few other good crime reality series - Gangland on The History Channel, The FBI Files on Discovery, & Cold Case Files on A&E.

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