Original subtitles

I didn't see myself as a criminal.

Just a courier.

It all seemed so easy.

I hadn't a clue if I'd ever see my family again.

There was no help.

I wanted to run.

Wanted to hide Wanted to die

What the hell am I doing here?

I was a self -employed plumber living in Dublin.

I was used to earning, you know, a couple of thousand a week.

Hi, sweetheart.

Hi, Dad.

I was living in a two -bedroom flat with my daughter, Kay.

We went on foreign holidays, so there was always money there for...

You know, these luxuries in life.

Nobody really forecast the downturn.

Overnight, the telephone stopped ringing.

The rent was due again.

Most of the bills were due again.

Nobody knew how deeply in debt I was.

Thanks, sir.

I'd be bankrupt.

I'll be on the doll.

When you have a child who depends on you, then the pressure, it's always a

tougher.

Went for a few bears on the way home.

I was sat there on my own, thinking about my future as you do.

That's when I was approached by a local drug dealer. How are you doing? Good,

man. Good. How are you? He sat down and just said, I know you're stuck for cash.

I might be able to help you out.

A friend of mine organised his trip to abroad.

Two weeks away, my son.

You pick up a package, which would be all hidden in the suitcase, and come

and it's a 10 ,000 grand richer.

10 grand?

Straight away, I was doing the maths in the head.

£10 ,000.

Really sought things out for me.

Noah.

I'm going to go for it.

Hello?

Speaking. I was told the destination for the trip was going to be Venezuela.

Venezuela?

Okay. I would never heard of Venezuela.

Sure, I'll see you then.

Where the hell is Venezuela?

The only thing I did notice when we landed was

how hot it was.

Loads of people flying around the motorway.

The night before I had to leave.

Knock on the door, the two of them come in.

What are you doing? Come on.

They shot me in the tooth, Kay.

I open it up.

I have a look.

If you really took your time to examine the suitcase,

you could basically feel it in the bottom.

But it looked good, you know.

Feels okay.

See you.

Okay. Okay.

Have a nice trip.

I knew there was a big, important day ahead of me now.

So I wanted to be mentally prepared for it.

Rest like a business man.

I felt like a business man.

Never thought about getting caught.

You know, it'll never happen to me.

Thank you.

Good morning, sir. Please, your ID.

How many bucks?

It didn't even say, did you pack the bag yourself?

Please, sir.

Put the tag on it.

Handed me the paper back.

Have a nice day.

It all seems so easy.

Suddenly a door opens.

And we were all asked to go down a stairway down to the tarmac below.

Got it down now.

Something's gone wrong here.

I said, well, visually, it just looked like a normal suitcase.

I said, well, maybe the suitcase might just go to a bag search.

I could see that there was three little darts

that had been fired into the suitcase.

Little tiny traces of white.

Powder come out, you know.

This is your back.

You wanted to run.

Looks like my back, yeah.

Unzipped it.

Zipped over the lid like that.

And you can go like this with the lid.

And smiling.

He just wanted the ground to swallow you up.

And he cut open the line under the suitcase.

The only thing I could think to do was to start smiling. I don't believe it.

Because I didn't want to cry.

Arrest him.

You wanted to hide.

You wanted to die.

He wanted to be back in Ireland.

I didn't know what lay ahead.

I felt very alone.

I was in a foreign country.

It was just a nightmare.

I proceeded to wait.

The hole in front of me. My heart sank.

Oh.

Five kilos.

It came out at six kilos in total.

Six? I was shocked at the amount.

I remember just saying to myself, for ten grand.

See, this wasn't worth it.

For ten grand.

Couldn't believe how stupid I'd been.

Didn't know how long the sentence was going to be.

I just knew I was in trouble.

Big trouble.

You say to yourself, this could be 20 years in prison.

In prison in South America.

And there I am, age 45.

So it could be 65 when I get out. An old man.

Paraphyl.

Your belongings.

They gave me this clear plastic bag with a toothbrush and a bottle of talcum

powder.

They left the room.

And they left six kilos of cocaine on the table in front of me.

It was like an instant like that.

I said to myself, this cocaine could come in handy as a currency in prison.

I just went into overdrive, put my hand down into the bag, took out the bottle

itself, ripped the top off, emptied out the contents, and just started

scooping up the cocaine into the bottle.

I managed to get the top back on, put the talcum powder back into the plastic

bag.

They returned then.

They hadn't a clue what had just gone on.

So one of them picked up the six bags of cocaine, put it into a plastic bag,

and took it off to use as evidence.

And then we drove down to this building.

And I was handcuffed

to the stale staircase.

They'd be there with the Kalashnikov rifles.

Pointing them over to me.

I hadn't a clue if they were allowed or not.

My hands were down in my head.

It was like the new toy to play with.

Crazy.

I was sat in my position on the steel staircase just trying to get as

comfortable as I could.

And then I was awoken.

I haven't got a clue what the time was.

The two guards led me into this room.

Hey, what's going on?

One of them comes over and shoves me head down.

And I felt someone go with me trousers, you know.

I started kicking, kicking back.

And then I got to batting.

Straight across the legs.

I'm struggling to get back up.

One of them shoved this dirty rag into my mouth.

I said, this is it.

They're going to rape me.

I was arguably the lowest

point in my life.

It's the way the police or

the anti -drug squad personnel that are in charge of law and order treat you.

What the hell are the prisons gonna be like?

We were led down the dark corridors of Los Tecas.

A bit of a horror show going down this alleyway.

I really thought this was the biggest asylum that I'd ever seen.

There was two guys there holding handguns.

What the hell are they doing with guns?

A small

guy

who later found out was the boss.

He pops open the chamber to show me that the bullets were live.

The head was zeroed in on the weapons.

What the hell are they doing with weapons inside the prison?

It's just intimidation straight away.

I said, these guys are going to be looking for something.

You had to pay an entrance fee to get into the wing so that you could

get their protection from the rest of the prison.

I don't have any money.

I've no way of getting any money.

If you don't get me the money, I'm dying.

You know, these guys are gonna punish you.

Okay. Okay.

I was frightened, you know.

I just slept on a piece of cardboard.

And the only available space...

Unfortunately, it was in the toilet.

I just had the towel, my old towel over me, to use as a blanket.

I thought to myself, will you get through one night, let alone eight

I was desperate for cash.

And drugs has been openly sold in the wing every

evening, every day.

But stealing wasn't the job of the bosses.

I knew I had the cocaine in the taco bottle.

The only way I had of...

Making some money was to resort to dealing cocaine myself.

I decided to approach Silvio.

How are you doing?

Great, how are you?

It seemed like I could trust him, so I gave him a sample of the cocaine.

He told it was lovely.

Beautiful.

That's the best he's had for a long while.

He said to me that he thought he could move the cocaine very quietly

by just selling it to his own countrymen.

He said they wouldn't say anything.

OK, OK, deal.

Yeah, it was a big gamble, but... ..sure as in life a gamble.

See if he'll go off.

Give it to the lads, and then later on he'd get a payment.

Thrown down in a flock.

Happy day, money was rolling in.

I was confident that I'd be alright.

Next thing I know, I got a tap on the shoulder.

Looked round, he said, you, come with me.

There was the boss The first question they asked was they had

reason to believe that I've been selling drugs

You've been selling drugs?

Yeah, yeah, hey

It was a look as if you'd just signed your own death warrant.

The atmosphere in the room wasn't great at all.

They put this cocaine onto a scale straight away.

Inside I was trembling and panicking.

This could be heavy, heavy going down here.

Could end up with a bullet.

He tested the cocaine to see if it was any good.

He told it was lovely.

Unknowns to me, There was a coke drought in Los Tecas.

And none of the bosses had coke to sell.

Buena, gringo.

There's 88 grams, which, when it's cut down for them, meant there

was four times that amount.

So it was a lot of money.

By God, it's Christmas as it come at once.

Muy bien.

So the only punishment was to go and sleep back in the toilet

It beats a bullet any day of the week

The

first

phone call I made

From Las Pecas to my daughter, it was very emotional.

Kai, I've been sentenced to eight years.

Slow down, sweetheart.

She seemed to think that lawyers could be paid to maybe get me out and work

miracles and stuff like that.

Sweetheart, stop.

I had to be straight with her.

And, you know, prepare her for the worst.

It was emotional.

I could hear her crying.

I wanted to cut it short because she was gone through enough pain.

I'm going to have to go. My change is running out.

Chin up, sweetheart.

I love you.

I'll be home before you know it.

I was going through enough pain myself.

There were times in your head that you thought, will I ever get out of this

place alive anyway?

Will I ever see home again?

In Las Tecas, anything could happen at any given minute.

There'd been rumours going around all day that there was going to be a big,

big shootout.

First thing I noticed was Something shoot across me head like...

I'd

never been under fire in me life.

Never been in a war zone.

It was total chaos.

And the bullets were just going everywhere.

Crouched on the floor.

And we were just crying.

Boss let off a volley of shots about 12,

18 inches away from here.

It was just like an electric shock.

Going through your school.

I think it might have caused one of my eardrums to shatter.

After about an hour and a half, the gunfire ceased.

They run out of ammunition.

Literally run out of ammunition.

I was getting bad pains in the head.

I couldn't open my jaw, I couldn't eat.

I was in that much pain and I felt that bad that I thought I was going to die.

I wanted to write home to my family.

But it was just to die there in Las Tecas without a final word.

At least then they would find out what actually happened.

I addressed home to my mother and father, home to my son, my daughter.

I felt barely alone.

Everything that had been shut out before just came.

Blood and... I'm sorry for all the pain

and upset that I caused you through this misadventure.

I always thought I'd get out of this one alive.

But if you're reading this letter now, it's because I'm dead.

This day had actually come.

I stepped up into the outside world.

It was just, it was amazing.

An amazing feeling.

Even though I'd walked out of Las Tecas, I wasn't free. I still wasn't free. I

was paroled.

To be truthful, the prospects of spending another five and a half years

Caracas didn't seem like a nice prospect.

They had to live in, like, a halfway detention centre, which

is basically like a prison.

I wasn't going to be happy until I was out of Venezuela.

So I decided to put the wheels in motion to try and escape.

There was another Irish lad called Billy.

Billy?

Yeah, who is it?

An ex -prisoner from Los Tecos who got early parole.

Yeah, come on down here.

Billy'd been in prison a lot longer than me. And he'd been in Venezuela a lot

longer than me.

How you doing?

Hi, Paul.

I explained to him that I wanted to head for the border.

I'm not staying here.

I'm going home.

He was thinking of home.

He was thinking of Ireland, his family.

He just said to me, I'll come with you.

I learned through Billy that there was a Colombian gang working out with one of

the bars.

We had to ask for a certain guy called Miguel.

Miguel?

We proceeded to ask him.

of the possibilities of getting smuggled over the border from Venezuela into

Colombia. We have no passport, no identification.

Miguel, he sat there and talked for a moment.

He said, si, posible, anything's possible.

Look for a price.

You take drugs in a suitcase on an aeroplane.

into Spain for us.

So I said, no way.

No way am I going to do any smuggling again ever in my life.

But at the same time, I needed Miguel and I needed to get across the border.

We shook hands.

And the deal was done.

We basically had to get out of the country

within 24 hours.

There'd probably be a warrant put out for my arrest.

Take us on an 18 -hour bus journey into Colombia.

Billy had heard stories as well.

People who were actually caught.

Trying to escape, going across the border.

Some of them were never heard of again.

The bus pulled in to Customs and Immigration Centre.

Billy had a story that our passports had been robbed and Miguel behind us.

was looking after us.

I noticed now it wasn't a soldier that got on the bus.

It was the police.

And everyone had to produce ID.

You know,

you looked like a detective or something.

The only two that didn't have OED were the two foreigners who'd just come out

prison.

Inside, I was dying.

Passport?

Robo. Passport to Robo.

Miguel showed him his own passport.

He also had 500 ,000 to give to the officer

for his trouble.

Well,

he wasn't working.

Two of you, get off the bus.

We weren't expecting this.

Get off the bus!

You stay there.

I could see the tears starting to swell up in Billy's eyes.

And I wasn't far behind him.

And we were both facing returning to Los Tecos.

Take off your clothes.

Take off your clothes.

Billy had like a money belt.

So I had the policeman's eyes light up.

Bring that to me.

Yeah.

He had about a thousand euro in the money belt.

Is this for me?

You were looking at a policeman's wage for, you know, a few months.

Is this for me?

Si, senor.

We just said, yeah. Si. Si, senor.

Now, you are trying to bribe me.

This is a big crime here.

In Venezuela.

It was just... It was terrible.

It was too much.

I said, this is it.

Okay, get dressed and get out.

That was it. He told us to get up, get our bags, and return to the couch.

Quickly, before I change my mind.

If we hadn't have had the money belt or the money on us, we'd have been back to

Las Vegas.

Self and Billy headed down towards border control.

There was like a river that you had to cross.

I led the way.

Billy led the way.

He was like a greyhound out of a trap.

And he does walk straight through.

I went straight by then, five seconds later.

I just kept walking forward.

Didn't want to see that poxy country again ever in my life.

And then we got completely over the other side of the bridge, and our feet

firmly on Colombian soil.

It was pure delight.

I have to concentrate now on Miguel.

As far as he was concerned, we were still taking drugs to spying for him.

Well done.

Now you work for us.

His boss wouldn't be arriving for another day or so.

Tomorrow my boss will bring the suitcase with the drugs.

So this gave us the breathing space of like another 24 hours where we could

give Miguel the slip.

I woke up at 5 o 'clock in the morning.

Miguel was still asleep.

Gave Billy a nudge.

So the panic button started.

I said, come on, let's go.

There was a door to the right.

I was taking a big risk, I know.

It was just pure survival.

I just had to go for it.

He said, we've done it.

We're free.

So I found a payphone.

Hi, there we are.

I found up the Irish consulate in Colombia.

Come on.

It was ringing and ringing.

Come on, come on.

Hola, hola.

Have you got English?

Great, yeah. I just explained to her that myself am your friend.

Our passports have been stolen.

We're travelling around Colombia, we've been robbed and we've lost our passport.

Would it be possible to get two temporary passports to leave the

Yeah, my name is Paul Keeney.

You can?

And she said yes, certainly.

We can give you the passports.

What's this little one?

Yes.

This

is

great to be back on Irish soil.

I felt terrible guilt.

I felt such a fail putting everyone

in that situation in the first place.

Hi sweetheart, I've just landed.

I'll see you in 20 minutes.

I'm starting to rebuild my life.

But it'll always stick in your mind, one you'll never forget.

That was a thing that was just horrific, it was unbelievable.

I'd never want to go through that again, as long as I live.