Two women who pleaded guilty to charges of drug trafficking in Peru were taken to court today for further proceedings in their case.
Prosecutors last week rejected the guilty pleas of two women who attempted to smuggle €1.7 million worth of cocaine out of Peru.
Michaella McCollum (20) from Dungannon, Co Tyrone, and Melissa Reid (20) from Glasgow, pleaded guilty behind closed doors when they appeared before a judge in the port town of Callao, near the capital Lima.
By pleading guilty, lawyers and family members were hopeful they would be eligible for a lighter sentence of around six years and eight months.
But chief prosecutor Juan Mendoza Abarca said last week that the guilty pleas were not enough to win a lighter sentence and said he expected them to receive a prison sentence of between eight and 15 years.
Amid a bevy of reporters, McCollum Connolly and Reid were escorted out of the prison and into a police vehicle today. The purpose of the hearing is unconfirmed, but a sentencing hearing is expected in the near future.