Michaella McCollum lands in Dublin following release from South American prison

Five months after she was released from prison in Peru, drugs mule Michaella McCollum has returned to Ireland.

The 23-year-old appeared to be alone as she left Dublin Airport yesterday just after 8.30pm.

She boarded a flight from Lima to London on Friday evening before grabbing a Ryanair flight from Gatwick to Dublin yesterday.

Her Ryanair flight touched down shortly before and she wheeled two large suitcases out of the airport as she headed for the car park.

She was dressed in a black top and jeans, with a beige sleeveless jacket over her as she faced RTE cameras waiting outside.

McCollum was one half of the ‘Peru 2,’ who were caught when she and Scottish woman Melissa Reid were caught smuggling nearly €2m worth of cocaine out of the South American country.

They had been caught after checking in for a flight back to Spain carrying 11kg of Class A drugs hidden in food packets.

Both girls claimed they were forced to be drug miles by South American gangsters, while their families at home believed they were working in a bar in Ibiza.

They were sentenced to six years and eight months in prison in Peru in 2013 but were both released this year.

Michaella was released in March but remained in Peru while Reid was allowed back into the UK in June.

In a controversial interview with RTE after her release, McCollum said it had been a “moment of madness” to try and smuggle the drugs.

She said: “I made a decision in a moment of madness. I’m not a bad person.. I want to demonstrate that I’m a good person.

“I potentially could have hurt a lot of people. I potentially could have filled Europe full of a lot of drugs.”