A former Wagga man, now living in Colombia, said Australians needed to look into the violent history of his adopted country before assuming its illicit drug culture.
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It comes as Australian accused drug mule Cassandra Sainsbury continues to make national headlines after a being arrested at Bogota airport for trafficking 5.8 kilograms of cocaine in her luggage.
Mick Cook has lived in Colombia for the past couple of years in Guatape – a town of around 6000 people about two hours east of the country’s second largest city, Medellin – home to infamous drug trafficker Pablo Escobar.
Mr Cook said most of the population rejected the notion of drugs in their society due to how much damage they have done over the past 70 years.
“The country is full of normal people who have suffered incredibly,” Mr Cook said.
“Most of the people don’t want anything to do with cocaine – it has ruined lives.”
Despite this, Mr Cook said it was quite easy to find cocaine on the streets.
“If you want to get it, you can. You just have to know the right people,” he said, adding the cost of a line of cocaine was as cheap as buying a beer.
Mr Cook said the news of the drug trafficking charge had “not caused much of a ripple”.
If you want to get it, you can. You just have to know the right people.
- Mick Cook
“It happens often. Locals say ‘there’s another one’,” he said.
The ex-pat said he had been subject to airport searches as he fit the profile that officers deem suspicious – an older foreign man with a young local woman when travelling overseas.
“I had coffee for gifts (in my baggage),” Mr Cook said.
“I subsequently found out coffee is used to mask the smell of cocaine.”
He said he had heard from local hostels that Australian tourists were among the worst when it came to illicit drugs. “They just talk about it in the open … If you want to get involved be prepared to be shot at or knifed.”
Leading Wagga solicitor Tim Abbott said the best course of action for someone caught in a similar situation to Ms Sainsbury was to come clean.
“(The accused, if guilty) should declare their guilt at the earliest possible chance and co-operate with the government to nail a few (drug traffickers),” Mr Abbott said.
“You need to show contrition early for the best chance of a more lenient sentence.”