Brit mum arrested with son, 6, over ‘£1.6m drug smuggling plot in Mauritius' facing A YEAR in hellhole jail before trial

The Irish Sun

4 days ago

A BRIT mum-of-two accused of trying to smuggle £1.6million of drugs into Mauritius inside her son's suitcase is reportedly being held in an infamously hellish prison.
Natashia Artug, 35, allegedly stuffed 24 packages of cannabis weighing 14kg
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Natashia Artug has been arrested in Mauritius
Credit: Facebook
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She has been held along with her partner Florian
Credit: Facebook
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The mum faces more than a year at the Beau Bassin Central Prison
She now faces being stuck inside the womens' section of the nightmarish Beau Bassin Central Prison for over a year while she awaits trial, the
The notorious slammer known for its "filthy" conditions and harsh
It houses
The jail reportedly has a "lack of hygiene, sanitation, and basic medical care", according to a damming US State Department report in 2014.
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The report also noted that prisons in Mauritius did not always meet international standards, and that
Natashia, from Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, was arrested alongside six Brits and her Romanian boyfriend accused of trying to smuggle a total of 161kg into the tropical island in the Indian Ocean.
Her six-year-old son was picked up by customs officials when the group landed at Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Airport from London Gatwick last month.
The boy was initially held by Mauritian cops but has since been released and is now back in the UK with his dad.
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Natashia is said to be "vulnerable" and claims she was coerced into travelling to
Mauritius
by drug traffickers who threatened her family.
Her case is being treated with particular seriousness after
Brit 'drug mules' avoid death penalty over £300k plot in Bali as court reveals short sentence due to 'polite behaviour'
Nonprofit group Justice Abroad said she did not know the bags contained cannabis.
Natashia was initially held with her son in the headquarters of the Anti-Drug and Smuggling Unit in Mauritius so they could be together.
But she has since been sent to the infamous Beau Bassin Central
Prison
after her son's dad flew over, picked him up and brought him back home.
Over half of the women in the hellhole jail are said to be foreign - and most of them are serving sentences or on remand for drug offences.
Drug convictions in Mauritius can result in a mammoth 45-year jail sentence.
The 2014 US report also said: "Given the lack of administrative remedies, inmates' relatives sometimes turned to private
radio
stations to denounce hygiene conditions or other problems."
The report didn't specify whether the harsh conditions also relate to the womens' sections of prisons or just the much larger mens' cells.
A Russian woman whose sister was being held at Beau Bassin Central Prison on drug charges slammed the prison's conditions on social media.
She said: "Sometime I can communicate with [her sister], and she always complains on conditions of imprisonment.
"She doesn't have normal access to medicines, clean drinking water. Sanitary conditions are terrible.
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The womens' section houses around 135 inmates
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Natashia is said to be 'vulnerable' and claims she was coerced
Credit: Facebook
The woman added in her post to Reddit: "She often hears verbal harassment and threats, sounds like 'You'll die here'. Abuse on racial prejudice.
"Most of the time the prisoners are in the prison yard under the scorching sun. Foreign prisoners are not allowed to wear hats."
The Switzerland-based Association for the Prevention of Torture also highlighted conditions for women inmates in Mauritius in a report last year.
It called for more kitchen facilities and the addition of psychiatrists to provide mental
health
care.
The UK Government website also describes prison conditions in Mauritius.
The website reads: "Imprisonment is generally in small cells with a number of other detainees.
"Mauritius is one of the rare countries where time out of cell is from 6.15am to 5pm. Prison officials will normally speak English to British prisoners."
It adds: "Many other detainees can also speak English although most of them will speak in the local language (Creole).
"While in detention, detainees can have access to the prison library where English
books
are available.
The government also claims that all prisons on the island "are Human Rights standards compliant".
Since her imprisonment, Natashia has launched a crowdfunder appealing for £5,000 to fight the serious charges.
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Florian Lisman, 38 from Romania was also arrested and accused of carrying 32 bags of drugs
Credit: Facebook
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Natashia was accused of smuggling drugs in her son's wheelie case
Credit: Facebook..
Natashia's partner Florian Lisman, 38 from
The other Brits arrested included Laura Kappen, 28, a bar worker from Orton Goldhay, Cambs, Shannon Holness, 29, a caterer, from Bretton, Cambs, Shona Campbell, 33, a cleaner from Standground, Cambs, Lily Watson, a caterer from Peterborough, Cambs, and window fitter Patrick Wilsdon, 21, also from Peterborough.
Each suspect was travelling on the British Airways flight from Gatwick with an
Apple
AirTag which is used to track an item's location.
Justice Abroad claim these were used by a trafficking gang to keep tabs on the group's movements with the
drugs
shipment.
Authorities on Mauritius branded the
They added: "This is one of the most revolting cases we have encountered in recent years."
The drugs cache was found during a joint operation by the Customs Anti-Narcotics Section (CANS) and the Anti-Drug & Smuggling Unit (ADSU) at the airport.
Justice Abroad said Natashia suffers from fibromyalgia and is currently attending university.
They added: "This case raises serious concerns about the exploitation of a young mother by a criminal gang.
"She now faces criminal trial in Mauritius separated from her children and without the resources to mount an adequate defence and to put together the evidence of the duress and exploitation."
The shocking arrests come amid a spate of Brits accused of drug smuggling around the world.
Georgia
.
The 19-year-old from Billingham, County
Durham
,
She says she was coerced by a brutal trafficking gang who allegedly burned her with an iron and
Bella claims she was duped into transporting the drugs by the Thailand-based gang – but prosecutors argue
In Sri Lanka,
The 21-year-old former air stewardess from South London, denies the allegations but was reportedly caught with 46kg of the substance packed into her suitcases.
If convicted, she could be handed a 25-year prison sentence in a country known for its tough anti-drug stance.
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The mum-of-two was arrested with one of her sons
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