Irish drugs mule Michaella McCollum was lucky she wasn’t put behind bars for 20 years, according to the Peru’s former drug czar.

The father of one of the two women awaiting trial for trying to smuggle cocaine worth €1.7m out of Peru said they should plead guilty.

A third woman has told how she was targeted by the same gang said to have forced Melissa Reid and Michaella McCollum to smuggle cocaine.