To her legions of Instagram fans, Melina Roberge looked to be living a dream life.
The 22-year-old spent almost two months travelling through paradise, drinking from coconuts in exotic locations and posing in front of turquoise waters in her bikini.
The carefree Canadian was travelling with Isabelle Legace, 28, and Andre Tamine, 63, aboard the $20,000-a-head MS Sea Princess, with stops that included Tahiti, Chile, Ecuador and Bermuda.
But the fantasy came to an abrupt and dramatic end when the ship docked at Sydney’s international terminal at Circular Quay.
Inside the suitcases of all three, Australian Border Force officials allegedly found bag-after-bag of cocaine.
They estimate the trio had hauled about 95kg into Sydney, a load worth around $30 million on the street.
Melina’s Instagram fans were quick to react.
“Currently travelling to prison,” quipped one.
Australian Border Force released a statement warning international drug syndicates would not get away with smuggling drugs into Australia.
“These syndicates should be on notice that the Australian Border Force is aware of all of the different ways they attempt to smuggle drugs into our country and we are working with a range of international agencies to stop them,” assistant commissioner Clive Murray said.
Officials are now turning their attention to establishing where the drugs came from. The tourists boarded the P&O Cruises ship along with more than 1000 other passengers in the UK.
They travelled together to North America, including a stop in New York, before touring the Caribbean and parts of South America, including drug hot spots Colombia and Peru.
This post was last modified on 31/08/2016 2:24 pm