Cocaine Cassie Sainsbury said she was introduced to Colombian cocaine smuggling in a Sydney brothel

Notorious convicted drug smuggler “Cocaine” Cassie Sainsbury has revealed she was indoctrinated into a Colombian cocaine ring through a Sydney brothel.

Sainsbury first admitted she was part of an international drug operation that led to her sensational arrest during a lengthy interview on 7News Spotlight that aired Sunday night.

Sainsbury was caught with 5.8kg of cocaine hidden in 18 boxes of headphones in her suitcase while boarding a flight from Bogota Airport, Colombia, to London in April 2017.

“Cocaine” Cassie Sainsbury said she was introduced to the underworld of drug smuggling in a Sydney brothel

She claims she was introduced to the organized crime underworld by her Sydney brothel madam, who remarked that Sainsbury’s did not enjoy “entertaining” clients.

“She was a little bit compassionate because obviously she recognized that there are people who like to do it and there are people who don’t,” she said.

“She said she has a friend who often looks for workers for deliveries to Sydney and that he is easy going, a good friend, dependable and trustworthy.

“I felt like she was actually trying to help me.”

Sainsbury said her job was to go around Sydney and deliver “documents” to high-profile businesses in the city’s CBD.

However, she said she never suspected she was actually delivering cocaine, saying “I was very naive”.

Sainsbury was caught with 5.8kg of cocaine hidden in 18 headphone boxes on a flight from Bogota to London in April 2017

“When I arrived at the building (of a delivery), the receptionist took the package from me and put it in a compartment.”

“One caught my eye, it was an orthodontist.”

Sainsbury said she would be paid between $100 and $150 per delivery.

“Confidential was the keyword,” she said.

Sainsbury worked between two and fifteen jobs a week, which she now realizes were cocaine deliveries.

“I didn’t realize up until that point how much was being used,” she said.

“It’s such an eye opener, it’s huge.”

However, Sainsbury’s life took a dark turn when she was asked to pick up some documents in London with another worker.

“We were told London, not Columbia,” Sainsbury said.

Sainsbury said she unknowingly smuggled drugs around Sydney believing the packages were “documents” before she was arrested in Columbia

“Honestly I look back now and I was such a jerk I didn’t see it.

“I really thought I was going to retrieve documents.”

Her first sign that something was wrong was when she got on her plane and realized she was going to Bogota, the capital of Colombia, and not London.

“I didn’t know where Bogotá was, I had to look it up,” Sainsbury said.

‘(I was told) everything was fine that it was a minor hiccup and to do as I was told.’

Sainsbury said she felt queasy about the trip and knew she needed to get out, but didn’t know how.

“I didn’t know how to get home,” she said.

“I was told that I was being followed, that if I didn’t follow through, something would happen to me.”

But the threats weren’t enough to keep Sainsbury in place. Determined to escape, she visited a travel agency to book the cheapest flight home.

“When I walked out,[one of the members of the drug ring]was there,” she said.

“He took me to his apartment and gave me some water because I was never a big drinker and I had no control over my body.”

Sainsbury said she was drugged, raped and held captive for the remainder of her time in Columbia.

“I think that makes it worse,” she said, “I knew what was going on but there was nothing I could do.”

“I wasn’t left alone…I was scared.”

She claims it was the man who raped her who packed her bag for the flight to London.

Sainsbury said she knew she was carrying cocaine in her bag but had no escape because she was under constant surveillance and repeated threats

‘I knew what was inside, I didn’t know any other way out.’

Sainsbury described going through airport security, relief when she checked in her bag and horror when her name was called over loudspeakers at the gates.

She said four police officers met her and took her to a private room where 18 earphone cases were laid out on a table.

At first she was relieved and thought she might just be smuggling electronics.

“Fool, I didn’t realize there were rolls of cocaine in the packets that came with the headphones,” she said.

Sainsbury said she had reported the link between the Sydney brothel and the cocaine syndicate to the Australian Federal Police, but she had not investigated it.

AFP confirmed both Sainsbury’s submission and the lack of a follow-up investigation into Seven.

Sainsbury said her woes only deepened after her arrest, when her father urged authorities to keep his 22-year-old daughter locked up for as long as possible while she dealt with the worst conditions in one of Colombia’s harshest women’s prisons.

Sainsbury was sentenced to six years in prison but was released in early 2020.

She says her time in prison will stay with her forever.

“It was horrible, I saw people die,” she said.

“I’ve seen people stabbed, I’ve seen people hang themselves.”

Eventually, the “helplessness” in prison wore down Sainsbury’s and she attempted suicide by jumping from the fourth floor of the prison.

She said another inmate grabbed her as she was about to go over the edge and told her not to give up.