The comment of one of the girls arrested in Accra, Ghana, for carrying drugs from Ghana back to London.:rolleyes:

(see http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/6897139.stm)

Who does she think she is kidding?   This is a street-wise 16 year old from London - who has lied to her parents, telling them that "she was going on a school trip to France".

She knew what she was doing - she just didn't think that she would get caught!

And no, I'm not sorry that she has been arrested in Ghana - which has no extradition treaty with the UK, and where she will not be cossetted in jail ....maybe it will send a message to other greedy rather than gullible girls!

Margot

They're about to learn a very hard lesson in reality.

They will learn a hard lesson, at lunchtime I was talking to a tutor as she is going to Ghana next week for three weeks as her husband has worked there for 3 years now and she was telling me about some of their culture!

Street-wise perhaps - intelligence generally under query though, one would assume from the quote. Unfortunately, they also seem to think everyone else is the same. How they could expect anyone to believe that they didn't know exactly what they were doing, I can't imagine.

Ah well, they won't do it again ;) and let's hope it makes a few more wise up to reality.

M.

I'm amazed they expect people to believe they thought they were carrying 2 empty bags all that way just to pass to someone in England :rolleyes:

And, their parents thought they were in France - what's that all about?

>And, their parents thought they were in France - what's that all about?

That was my first thought too.  When your child comes home and says they are going on a school trip surely the first things you ask are when and how much?  I do anyway :D  Then you wait for the school letter with all the details and medical consent forms that have to be signed by a certain date etc etc.  Then on the day you take them to the school because they need help with carrying their suitcase and because you want to see them off.  Isn't this normal or am I abnormal?

I feel I should hold judgement on the parents until more details emerge but on the face of it these 16 year olds have gone to Ghana without their parents knowledge but on the pretence of a school trip? 

When my daughter went to Australia I kept on and on about being careful not to let anyone near her luggage and not to do any favours by carrying stuff for anyone whether she knew them or not.  She was not amused because she was already well aware of the dangers. I know she was 19 and not 16 but even so 16 yr olds that supposedly tricked their parents the way they did are hardly goody two shoes and not that naive surely?

I suppose, in theory, they could have convinced their parents. Told the school they are going - got all the details, booked on etc - then forged a letter from their parents to the school to cancel their going on the trip and naffed off wherever they chose... of course - its all dependent on the school and parents communicating...

I have no sympathy for them. If they are smart enough to do that then they are smart enough to know exactly what they were carrying. No-one carries an empty bag for someone - and if they did they'd have peeked inside. Stupid.

Put like that it does sound feasible, especially if those 'employing' them have done all this before and advised them. Nevertheless, I can't believe that they would be so naive to believe that they were going to be paid £3000 each just to bring back laptops.

and they thought the bags were empty   

that quote implies their guilt just by using a double negative!  Don't suppose they would realise that though.

Gosh no wonder laptops are so heavy - it's the bags they come in!! 

Any two girls who are able to con their parents into believing they are going on a school trip and then go to Africa are no innocents abroad. 

Not as clever as they think they are then?

There was a lad i vaguely knew of on my estate.... he tried to claim he had NO idea that the pots of 'moisturizer' hed carried back from Thailand contained illegal substances....

Totally innocent he was, completely...

Yeah right, how likely is it that a lad on the dole from a family similarly on benefits can afford to go to Thailand THREE times in three months?

Thats a lot of holidays!

Gosh some people are so vain :D they'll go to the ends of the earth for a good moisutrizer :D :D :D :D  He'd have had fabulous skin :) 

You're right tho, I'm always amazed by certain people's ability to make their dole money go that far!!  I'm great with money but I can't conjure up one holiday out of 'no money' forget having three!

These girls knew what they were doing, however, when I was on holiday in Sri Lanka we struck up a friendship with a young guy in the hotel and he asked us to take a "letter" to post from the UK to his sister who was living in the UK as his letters "always went missing".  I was all ready to agree, thinking I was doing this lad a favour until OH stepped in and said definitely not.  I didn't even think what the letter might have contained.  Never carry anything for anyone - no matter how innocent it may seem.

CG