Cocaine Cassie reveals new romance with mystery woman

The convicted drug smuggler has opened up about her new life and the staggering amount of weight she has lost as she prepares to return to Australia.

Cassandra Sainsbury is dating a new woman following her split from prison fiancee Joli Pico.
Sainsbury, who was nicknamed “Cocaine Cassie” after being busted trying to smuggle 5.8kg of cocaine out of Colombia in 2017, told Daily Mail Australia she was in a relationship with a computer technician.

“She doesn’t know to the extent that I’m quite well known back in Australia,” Sainsbury told the publication of her unnamed new lover.

“But here they don’t understand that kind of (fame). In Colombia there’s so much of it (cocaine smuggling).”

Sainsbury split from Pico in after she was released from jail early in April last year, claiming her former fiancee had ended up “being with someone else”.

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Convicted drug smuggler Cassie Sainsbury has opened up about her new romance. Picture: Instagram/@cassieleigh_p_t.

Sainsbury, 26, was sentenced to six years in jail in 2017 for her attempted drug smuggling, however was released early in April 2020 last year due to overcrowding during the coronavirus pandemic.

The personal trainer has undergone quite the transformation, getting multiple tattoos and revealing she has lost 29 kilos since entering jail and a further 12 kilos since being released last year.

Sainsbury now wants to “move on” from her drug conviction and plans to start a personal training business when she returns to Australia.

“I don’t always want to be known as Cocaine Cassie,” she said.

Sainsbury, whose jail term will officially expire in May next year, hopes she will be able to return to her native Adelaide later this year.

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Sainsbury also revealed she has lost 41 kilos since her arrest. Picture: Instagram/@cassieleigh_p_t.

Last month, she appeared to hint at her departure from Colombia, sharing a photo of herself holding her Australian passport on her Instagram story.

In April, Sainsbury revealed she planned to return to South Australia “really soon” and “sooner rather than later”.

“I’m looking forward to the weather, the beaches … I guess the food as well. Everything,” she explained in response to a follower’s question.

Sainsbury with the 5.8 kilos of cocaine she was busted with. Picture: EPA/Col anti-narcotics police.

Sainsbury at a court hearing in 2017. Picture: AP Photo/Fernando Vergara.

Sainsbury has claimed she was “forced” to smuggle drugs by a mystery international drugs syndicate which threatened to harm her and her family if she did not comply.

After her release from jail last year, she told 60 Minutes she had been sexually assaulted by a 39-year-old Brazilian drug dealer named “Angelo” in the days before she was arrested.

Sainsbury has never been able to provide evidence for her claims and has said she has forgotten the password to her phone, which contains material to support her allegations.

During her drug smuggling trial she was supported by fiance Scott Broadbridge, however the pair later split, with Sainsbury saying at the time it was the “best thing for his future”.

While serving her jail sentence Sainsbury became engaged to Pico, 29.