A mother’s gamble

I left Sao Paulo on June 28, 2022, for Hong Kong where I was caught with drugs at the airport. I had never done anything so wrong in my life.

I was motivated to do this because of financial problems. I needed to save my son from a gambling debt. Online games today are where many young people in Brazil surrender to addiction. My son is 21 years old and was working when I found out he owed a lot of money to the online gambling bank. Because of this, my son left town so I was worried. Faced with this problem, an old acquaintance told me that I could earn money doing this job, that it would be quick and easy, so out of desperation I accepted.

I was aware of what I was doing, but I didn’t know the consequences.

A Brazilian guy who lives in Portugal called me and arranged everything for me. So I went to Sao Paulo. I don’t personally know the drug traffickers. When I arrived I was met by a man who took me to an apartment where he gave me the drug. I believe that is where everyone who accepts this work stays, as there were many bags there!

A day later, traveled here and was caught at the airport.

Today I am struck in fear of something happening to my family because these people cannot be trusted. They can find out where I live since they have a record of my address, which they said they needed on the pretext of buying me travel insurance.

I don’t know what’s coming, but at the moment I find myself feeling lonely and sad because I made a serious mistake. I have forsaken my family, my friends, and my freedom. 

The suffering I’m going through is great. What I did for love, has turned into pain.

I don’t advise anyone to accept travel with drugs for anyone. Not even for money. The price to pay is big and painful. So think carefully before making this mistake. If I could go back in time to a month ago, I wouldn’t have done this. Today I think about what I did, my life was taken because of my motherly love. The mistake I made was very serious… how many lives would have been destroyed by drug addiction if I had been successful?

It’s been a month that I don’t sleep well, that I don’t eat well, that my words here are limited because I don’t even have anyone to talk to, a pain that has no end. If I could scream to the world “no to drugs!” I would explain what the feeling of not being free anymore is.

No to drug trafficking.
No more mules.

 

Note: This article is based on several letters received which were written in Portuguese. Translation has been made to the best of our abilities and edited for clarity.