One of the infamous 'cocaine babes' involved in a huge $21million drug haul has broken her silence on life in prison and her plans for spending the dirty money.
Canadian woman Isabelle Lagace was arrested in 2016 as part of one of Australia's biggest drug busts when nearly 100kilograms of cocaine was found on a luxury cruise ship in Sydney Harbour.
The then 28-year-old was sentenced the following year to a minimum four years and six months in jail and was released in February 2021.
Lagace has now broken her silence on life inside an Australian maximum security prison and what she had planned for her ill-gotten gains.
Lagace (right) and accomplice Melina Roberge have both been deported back to Quebec, Canada after spending four years in prison in Australia for drug smuggling
'If I didn't get caught I would probably be a big a***hole with a lot of money,' she told 60 Minutes in a preview of an episode due to air on Sunday night.
Recalling her time in prison, she said: 'They took me to a maximum security called "Silverwater", opened the door and said "welcome to Australia".'
Lagace had pleaded guilty after attempting to smuggle 30kilograms of cocaine into Australia to clear a $20,000 debt.
She was one of three people arrested as part of a seven-member drug cartel aboard what was described as a 'floating drug warehouse'.
Her glamorous accomplice Melina Roberge received a longer sentence than Lagace because she had not pleaded guilty.
In 2018, Roberge, then 22, was sentenced to eight years in jail with a non-parole period of four years and nine months.
Both women have since been released from prison and in deported back to Quebec, Canada.
Lagace and Roberge posted a string of photos to social media of them enjoying the cruise ship journey across the globe
ABF members found a suitcase containing 30 kilograms of cocaine in the cabin occupied by Lagace and Roberge
Apart from the two women, just one other male associate went to prison.
Canadian man Andre Tamine, then 65, was sentenced in 2018 to eight years and five months jail.
The group had boarded the seven-week cruise on the Sea Princess at Dover, England on July 9, 2016, and planned to sail to destinations such as the US, Bermuda, Colombia, Auckland, Sydney and Brisbane as part of an around-the-world trip.
Roberge and Lagace snapped themselves drinking from coconuts, posing with armed soldiers on a beach, in caves and at coves, mostly in their swimwear.
The ship arrived at the Overseas Passenger Terminal at Sydney Harbour at 6.50am on August 28, 2016, where Australia Border Force members searched the two cabins the group were staying in.
ABF members found three large suitcases stuffed with 42.74kilograms of cocaine in Tamine's cabin, and another suitcase containing 30kilograms of cocaine in the cabin occupied by Lagace and Roberge.
Roberge (above) posed in an Instagram picture with soldiers
The cocaine discovered in the women's cabin had a street value of around $21million.
Following their arrest and first court appearances, it emerged that Lagace had been a stripper at a Montreal nightclub and had then featured in adult movies.
It would later emerge that Roberge had become involved in a a sexual relationship with an older 'sugar daddy' she had met in a nightclub.
He had paid her expenses in return for her working as an escort for men he introduced her to at nightclubs in Morocco and Montreal.
The same man promised both women - who had accrued major debts - up to $100,000 if they could carry the 95kg of cocaine through Australian customs without getting caught.
They were offered first class cruise tickets worth $20,000, plus $6000 spending money, and told they should 'take pictures in exotic locations and post them on Instagram' to act as decoys for the drug plot.
Last year, a documentary was released featuring Lagace's telling of the ordeal, titled 'Cocaine, Prison & Likes: Isabelle's True Story'.
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