The unanswered questions about Cassandra Sainsbury’s visit to Colombia

LOCALS in the small town where Cassandra Sainsbury went to school have had plenty to talk about since her arrest in Colombia on drug charges.

CASSANDRA Sainsbury was known in her home town of Yorketown as a “naughty girl”, according to one local business owner in the South Australian town.

Local florist Lynn - who has worked in the area for more than 20 years - told news.com.au Sainsbury had a reputation as a “scalliwag” among those who knew her in the town.

The 22-year-old went to school in Yorketown, on the rural and remote Yorke Peninsula in South Australia and later registered a training business named Yorke’s Fitness in the same town.

Sainsbury also worked in the local Yorke Hotel as a barmaid.

Yorketown florist Lynne told news.com.au Ms Sainsbury opened Yorke’s Fitness with financial support from her then boyfriend, a member of a wealthy local family.

But Lynne said Sainsbury’s relationship with the gym ended abruptly and she left town suddenly.

“She’s the talk of the town at the moment of course,” Lynne said.

Sainsbury’s family has been quiet over the last couple of days, after barrelling into the mainstream media late last week pleading for help to save the accused drug trafficker from a Colombian prison.

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But as the press picked up the story and national interest in Cassie’s case began to grow, questions grew. Questions that have so far seemed surprisingly difficult to answer.

Sainsbury’s father said little when approached about the 22-year-old’s story, telling a reporter “I don’t want to be tied up in all this,” the Mail Online wrote.

“Listen, whatever is going on has nothing to do with me, and I have nothing to say about it.

“You can ring my lawyer if you don’t understand me. It’s got nothing to do with me.”

Here are some of the unanswered questions in Cassie Sainsbury’s case.

Cassie’s fiance Scott Broadbridge arriving at his home in Moana yesterday. Picture: Matt Loxton

THE CLEANING COMPANY

Confusion reigns over why Cassie was in Colombia in the first place, and travelling alone. Her family says she was there on a working holiday for a cleaning business in Australia and departed on April 3.

The first the public heard about Cassie’s working holiday was through her sister Khala’s fundraising campaign. But the purpose of the work only became clear when Cassie’s boyfriend, Scott Broadbridge, commented on the same page.

“She helped manage a commercial cleaning business that had both national and international clients,” Mr Broadbridge said.

“Unfortunately it’s very easy for tourists to get targeted, especially in Colombia.”

The name of the business has not yet been revealed. So far no employer has come forward to verify her employment.

@MattYoung @newscomauHQ The commerical cleaning company Cassie Sainsbury worked for should put out a statement immediately acknowledging she was working for them.

— Jessica Getty (@cowontherun) May 2, 2017

DATE OF THE ARREST

The timeline of Cassie’s arrest is a mixed report of dates between April 11 and April 12.

The Adelaide Advertiser reports Cassie’s arrest was April 11. As did Yahoo News and the Daily Telegraph. News Corp has also reported her arrest on April 12. As has Sky News, and 9News.

A search of the Colombia National Police’s website gives no mention of Cassie’s arrest, neither does its Twitter feed, which usually posts its impressive captures.

When photos of Cassie were released by the police, even the captions were confused. EPA, which had three of the images, dated the pictures April 11, while AP, which had access to one of the images, claimed they were taken April 12.

Meanwhile, this image, from photo agency EPA, claims the photo was taken on 11 April 2017.

“This April 12, 2017 photo released by Colombia's National Police press shows Australian Cassandra Sainsbury in handcuffs after she was arrested at the international airport in Bogota, Colombia,” writes AP via Colombia's National Police.

THE STOPOVERS

According to HSB News, which credits itself as “the most important news from Colombia”, Cassie was due to stop in London, France and Hong Kong “to make presentations” before touching down in Australia upon her return.

If Cassie was meant to return to Australia on Easter Saturday, April 15, that would have given her minimal time in her reported stops of London, France and Hong Kong. What were her plans? Her itinerary? How long had she planned at each destination?

Questions have been raised about how anyone who was deliberately smuggling drugs would think they could get the cocaine through so many stops?

Cassie’s reported luggage tag showing her destination: London.

WHO DOBBED HER INTO THE DEA?

Cassie was detained because the US Drug Enforcement Agency alerted Colombian authorities to their suspicions about her plane ticket, according to reports.

“We found her because of an alert from the DEA (US Drug Enforcement Agency),” Bogota airport’s narcotics chief, Commander Rodrigo Soler, told News Corp Australia Network.

He said she had cleared security, checked her bag and was minutes away from boarding her flight when the alert came up.

“The alert said check this person so we pulled her aside and we searched her luggage and we arrested her. We asked ‘is this your bag, did you pack this?’. She said ‘yes’.”

The question is, who knew about the alleged import and dobbed her in?

It is unclear how much co-operation goes on between the AFP and its Colombian counterparts but the AFP told news.com.au they had not received any requests for assistance or co-operation regarding Ms Sainsbury’s alleged activities in Bogota — either before or after her arrest.

“The AFP has not provided any information or assistance to Colombian authorities in relation to Ms Sainsbury,” an AFP spokesman said.

THE PLANE TICKET

Commander Soler told The Australian Ms Sainsbury’s ticket was bought at the last minute by an unknown party in Hong Kong for a trip from Australia to Bogota via London.

Soler told The Australian Ms Sainsbury’s ticket, which was bought at the last minute by an unknown party in Hong Kong for a trip from Australia to Bogota via London, was one of several red flags that caused North American agencies to alert Colombian police.

Who is the identity of the person who bought her ticket?

THE WORKING VISA

For a woman who claimed she was on a working holiday, she wasn’t doing much, according to her social media.

On April 3 she posted a photo to Instagram saying “going from China’s lovely 27 degree weather to LA’s 7 degree weather is killing me”.

Then on April 8, she posted a photograph indicating her “work trip” wasn’t involving much work at all.

“Can’t complain about an all expenses paid work trip which is mainly holiday and very little work,” she wrote.

In January she appeared to be on another work trip, this time to Canada.

Ms Sainsbury’s family has previously said the 22-year-old travelled to Colombia on April 3 for a working holiday. It’s unclear what visa she was travelling on and what job she was doing overseas.

There is no working holiday maker visa arrangement between Australia and Colombia, and working visas require Australians to prove they have a skill set Colombians don’t possess.

“The most common work visa would be for English teachers,” said Rusty Young, who wrote the book Marching Powder and who lived in Colombia for eight years.

But Australians can enter Colombia for 90 days as a visitor without a visa.

THE PERSONAL FITNESS CAREER

Cassie Sainsbury's closed gym, Yorke's Fitness, in York Peninsula west of Adelaide. Picture: James Elsby

Questions remain over Cassie’s involvement with personal training and fitness.

Cassie Sainsbury had two personal fitness businesses in South Australia, but both appear not to have operated for almost two years.

Ms Sainsbury ran Cassandra’s Simply Fit Personal Training, operating out of Anytime Fitness in the northern Adelaide suburb of Parabanks.

Last registered with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) two years ago, the business was not renewed in 2015 and ultimately its registration was cancelled in April last year.

The 22-year-old - who went to school in Yorketown, on the rural and remote Yorke Peninsula in South Australia - also registered a training business named Yorke’s Fitness.

But that business was deregistered last year, after not being renewed 12 months ago.

The Manager of Anytime Fitness at Parabanks said she had never heard of Cassie Sainsbury and that she had no association with the gym.

In September last year, Ms Sainsbury posted on Instagram that she had returned to working out after a painful absence following an accident.

“11 months later, I’ve properly returned to the gym.,” she wrote on September 15.

“Finally being able to lift weights and walk without a whole lot of pain through my back after my accident, made my 3:30am Gym session so much better!”

WHAT WE KNOW

— The cocaine allegedly found in Cassandra Sainsbury’s luggage minutes before she prepared to board a flight home from Colombia would have fetched almost $2 million on the streets of Australia.

— Given that a single gram of the drug costs a minimum of $300 per gram, the street value of 5.8kg would have been more than $1.7 million.

— In contrast, whoever purchased the cocaine found in Ms Sainsbury’s bag would have paid little more than $20,000 for the entire stash.

— Ms Sainsbury, 22, is currently awaiting trial in the notorious El Buen Pastor women’s jail in the Colombian capital Bogota after she was allegedly caught with almost 6kg of cocaine inside her suitcase.

— The young woman from Moana in South Australia was arrested at El Dorado International Airport after an X-ray allegedly revealed something suspicious in her suitcase.

— A search allegedly uncovered 5.8kg of cocaine concealed inside 18 sets of headphones Ms Sainsbury apparently bought as gifts for friends.

-According to data from the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission’s Illicit Drug Data Report, the average price of a kilogram of cocaine in Australia is around $220,000.

— Over the years the Australian Federal Police have seized hundreds of kilograms of cocaine, much of it imported from Colombia, in border drug detections.

— Ms Sainsbury’s family claims she was set up while on a working holiday in the South American country, which is internationally notorious for cocaine production.

— Almost 6kg of the drug was allegedly found packed inside 18 headphones she claimed to have bought on the cheap from a man who had been acting as her translator.

— Ms Evans claims her daughter packed the headphones — which had all been meticulously wrapped in plastic — into her suitcase without checking them and had no knowledge of the hidden contraband.

— She said Ms Sainsbury was scheduled to marry her fiance Scotty Broadbridge in February next year and wanted to buy some gifts for her bridal party, as well as for her family and friends.

— On the day of the flight, the man came to her hotel and gave her the headphones, which were individually wrapped, possibly in black plastic.

— Ms Evans said the family had hired a respected lawyer who was advising Cassie to plead guilty to avoid a potential jail sentence of between 18 to 25 years.

— The minimum sentence is six years but Ms Evans is hoping it will be reduced to four if she provides information about the man who gave her the drugs.

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