Cocaine Cassie claims she was hired for money laundering, not drugs

ACCUSED cocaine smuggler Cassie Sainsbury now claims she thought she was being sent to Colombia to launder money when she became a drug mule. And her family says she wasn’t meant to reach Australia alive.

ACCUSED cocaine smuggler Cassie Sainsbury now claims she thought she was on a money-laundering mission to make $10,000 when she became a drug mule.

And her family says she wasn’t meant to reach Australia alive.

Sainsbury, known as “Cocaine Cassie”, has recently claimed to family that she begged the Australian consulate to get her out of Colombia after a crime syndicate demanded she smuggle 5.8kg of cocaine through Bogota El Dorado airport.

When the gang learned of her plans to slip out of the country without the drugs, she says they menaced her with a gun and threatened to murder her fiance, sister and her four children, who they produced photos of in Australia.

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But the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has cast doubt on yet another version of events from 22-year-old Sainsbury, insisting they received no cry for help.

Sainsbury’s sister Khala has recounted the new version of events to the Herald Sun, adding that family and her legal team believe if she made it to Hong Kong with the cocaine she would have died there.

Cassie claims she was shown photos of her sister Khala and her four kids. Picture: Jason Edwards

Cassie Sainsbury in prison in Bogota, Colombia.

No ticket was booked on to Australia, she claims. She would instead have been killed by the syndicate or authorities, with drug crimes carrying the death penalty in China.

“Cassie wasn’t coming home alive — that’s what we believe, that’s what our lawyers believe,” she said.

Sainsbury has now spent 58 days in El Buen Pastor women’s prison, with her sister saying the “threats are still real and still coming”.

In Colombia, Khala Sainsbury says the drug mule was shown two paparazzi-style photos by the syndicate when she was threatening to pull out — one of boyfriend Scott Broadbridge leaving the gym and another of Khala and her four young children.

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“That’s when she knew she was in big trouble but it was too late,” Khala said from her home near Adelaide.

“She was told ‘I’ve got photos of your family, if you don’t do what I want you to do, they are dead’.”

She says the smuggler told her: “I’m in here because I was protecting you.”

Sainsbury has woven several stories since being busted in Colombia.

Stuart Sainsbury there was an “intervention” at his home to try to stop Cassie’s Colombia trip. Picture: Jason Edwards

She initially denied any knowledge of drugs in her suitcase, insisting 18 sets of headphones were wedding gifts she had sourced from a person showing her around.

Cassie also claimed she worked for her uncle’s cleaning business, which flew her to Sydney and around the world.

But her uncle Neil Sainsbury never owned a business and she used him as a cover for her double-life working as a sex worker.

Khala said Sainsbury was now adamant she initially thought she was heading to London to “pick up some documents” and was expecting $10,000 for her efforts.

“She honestly thought it was some money laundering,” Khala said.

But dad Stuart Sainsbury said a month before Sainsbury was nabbed on April 13, there was an “intervention” at his home to try to stop her going to Colombia.

He said she told him she was no longer going, two weeks later.

He added: “She was hanging around me like a lapdog. She wanted to tell me something but didn’t know how to.”

Once in Bogota, Khala said Sainsbury claims she was so desperate to get out that she phoned the Australian consulate.

“I don’t know what extent she told of her plight,” she said.

“She tried to leave but they found out. I do know she was trying to find another way to come home.”

But a DFAT spokeswoman said last night: “The Department was unaware of Ms Sainsbury or her presence in Colombia before being notified of her arrest.”

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