Journalists interview Irishwoman in Peru drug case

Journalists have spoken to the 20-year-old Irishwoman being held on suspicion of drug trafficking in Peru who said she and her friend were forced to smuggle cocaine at gunpoint.

Police in Lima arrested Michaella McCollum from Tyrone and Melissa Reid from Scotland after they claimed the pair were carrying 11 kilos of the drug in their luggage.

The pair say they and their families had been threatened by a gang.

The Daily Mirror's US editor Chris Bucktin interviewed the girls in their police holding cell in Lima.

"They admit that they have cried themselves to sleep several times- in fact Melissa says she may not have any more tears," he said.

"The condition that they’re in- they're in two different cells. Melissa is sharing with another girl, Michaella is by herself.

"There is nothing in those cells - they actually sleep on their fibreglass beds."

"They knew they were going to pick something up and bring it back," Bucktin explains. "They thought it would be either drugs, money, or guns."

He also said they were followed and watched every step of the way, including on flights.

A short video has also emerged of the pair eating during their detention and speaking to a journalist who gained access to the prison.

In it, the two young women appear to be in good health, they are eating donuts and casually talking to a journalist who gained access to the detention centre where they are being held.

In the footage, they tell him they have enough to eat, but not to drink.

Michaella McCollum is heard saying that she doesn't want to talk to any reporters at this stage, and the two women then agree to think about whether they will talk to the media.

Both had been due to appear in court today, but their appearance has been postponed until next week.

"The major stumbling block being that they haven't gotten an interpreter who's managed to help the girls and their legal representative," Bucktin said.

"In fact, their representative is a local Peruvian solicitor. They only came across him because he happened to be inside the prison at the time."

Pauline Crow from the Prisoners Abroad group said it will be a very uncertain time for them both:

They have no idea of the ramifications for them as individuals, but also for their family and friends, and all the people that it effects.