[IMAGECAPTION] PHOTO: Then, detoxing. Now, delousing (Photo courtesy of Melina Roberge on Instagram) [/IMAGECAPTION]
A trip of a lifetime for one woman turned into the drug bust of a lifetime for Australian border police.
When Melina Roberge posted pictures of her fabulous round-the-world trip to Instagram, it is likely that the last people whose attention she wanted would be law enforcement, but she and her travel companions, Isabelle Legace and Andre Tamine, are in custody after the Australian officials seized 95 kilograms of cocaine.
Details of the arrest and seizure were reported gleefully by the Australian government.
[IMAGECAPTION] Photo courtesy of Department of Immigration in Australia [/IMAGECAPTION]
The haul has an estimated U.S. street value of $30 million, which is either a good weekend for Charlie Sheen or (more likely) the precise reason these three were able to finance a vacation on Princess Cruise Line's MS Sea Princess. This particular cruise was a two-month luxury outing with a $20,000-per-person price tag - a once-in-a-lifetime trip for normal folk, but a mere pittance to these millennial Tony Montanas.
[READMORE] READ MORE: Drunken Woman Banned for Life by Virgin Atlantic Airline[/READMORE]
Australian Federal Police Commissioner, Strategic Border Command, Clive Murray pointed out how this was an important day for international cooperation when it comes to stopping drug syndicates, but the hilarious part of the story is how Roberge and her companions managed to document every part of their trip like a couple of wannabe-Kardashians and are now in jail.
One hopes the group had fun, because the three are now facing life in prison on charges of transporting a "commercial" amount of cocaine.
Crime doesn't pay, kids. Well, maybe it does for a couple of months, but the corresponding IOU is, well, yeesh ...
This photo's caption read, "First time in Papeete and not the last one." Um, sorry, Melina, it will likely be your last view of the tropics for a very long time.
Perhaps the best of all the Instagram posts was her last before the arrest, which said, "When you wake up and need a nap" - a sentiment probably meant to describe the weariness of a world cruise packed with cat parks and ATVs, but will also adequately lay out Roberge's potential attitude toward life in a cell even smaller than the lowliest crewmember's cabin on the MS Princess.
The rest of us can go back to bingewatching "Orange is the New Black" while the show's writers can contemplate whether or not they can sue Roberge and her companions for clearly ripping off Piper and Alex's pre-jail exploits, or if they should just write this saga into the next season.
At the very least, these photos will make great memories and potentially epic Instagrams down the road: "#TBT to that time when I wasn't constantly worried about getting shivved in Cell Block D."
#NoChill.
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