All language subtitles for Banged Up Abroad - S07E15 - Venezuela

I didn't see myself as a criminal.

Just a courier.

It all seemed so easy.

I hadn't a clue if I'd ever see my
family again.

There was no help.

I wanted to run.

Wanted to hide Wanted to die

What the hell am I doing here?

I was a self -employed plumber living in
Dublin.

I was used to earning, you know, a
couple of thousand a week.

Hi, sweetheart.

Hi, Dad.

I was living in a two -bedroom flat with
my daughter, Kay.

We went on foreign holidays, so there
was always money there for...

You know, these luxuries in life.

Nobody really forecast the downturn.

Overnight, the telephone stopped
ringing.

The rent was due again.

Most of the bills were due again.

Nobody knew how deeply in debt I was.

Thanks, sir.

I'd be bankrupt.

I'll be on the doll.

When you have a child who depends on
you, then the pressure, it's always a

tougher.

Went for a few bears on the way home.

I was sat there on my own, thinking
about my future as you do.

That's when I was approached by a local
drug dealer. How are you doing? Good,

man. Good. How are you? He sat down and
just said, I know you're stuck for cash.

I might be able to help you out.

A friend of mine organised his trip to
abroad.

Two weeks away, my son.

You pick up a package, which would be
all hidden in the suitcase, and come

and it's a 10 ,000 grand richer.

10 grand?

Straight away, I was doing the maths in
the head.

£10 ,000.

Really sought things out for me.

Noah.

I'm going to go for it.

Hello?

Speaking. I was told the destination for
the trip was going to be Venezuela.

Venezuela?

Okay. I would never heard of Venezuela.

Sure, I'll see you then.

Where the hell is Venezuela?

The only thing I did notice when we
landed was

how hot it was.

Loads of people flying around the
motorway.

The night before I had to leave.

Knock on the door, the two of them come
in.

What are you doing? Come on.

They shot me in the tooth, Kay.

I open it up.

I have a look.

If you really took your time to examine
the suitcase,

you could basically feel it in the
bottom.

But it looked good, you know.

Feels okay.

See you.

Okay. Okay.

Have a nice trip.

I knew there was a big, important day
ahead of me now.

So I wanted to be mentally prepared for
it.

Rest like a business man.

I felt like a business man.

Never thought about getting caught.

You know, it'll never happen to me.

Thank you.

Good morning, sir. Please, your ID.

How many bucks?

It didn't even say, did you pack the bag
yourself?

Please, sir.

Put the tag on it.

Handed me the paper back.

Have a nice day.

It all seems so easy.

Suddenly a door opens.

And we were all asked to go down a
stairway down to the tarmac below.

Got it down now.

Something's gone wrong here.

I said, well, visually, it just looked
like a normal suitcase.

I said, well, maybe the suitcase might
just go to a bag search.

I could see that there was three little
darts

that had been fired into the suitcase.

Little tiny traces of white.

Powder come out, you know.

This is your back.

You wanted to run.

Looks like my back, yeah.

Unzipped it.

Zipped over the lid like that.

And you can go like this with the lid.

And smiling.

He just wanted the ground to swallow you
up.

And he cut open the line under the
suitcase.

The only thing I could think to do was
to start smiling. I don't believe it.

Because I didn't want to cry.

Arrest him.

You wanted to hide.

You wanted to die.

He wanted to be back in Ireland.

I didn't know what lay ahead.

I felt very alone.

I was in a foreign country.

It was just a nightmare.

I proceeded to wait.

The hole in front of me. My heart sank.

Oh.

Five kilos.

It came out at six kilos in total.

Six? I was shocked at the amount.

I remember just saying to myself, for
ten grand.

See, this wasn't worth it.

For ten grand.

Couldn't believe how stupid I'd been.

Didn't know how long the sentence was
going to be.

I just knew I was in trouble.

Big trouble.

You say to yourself, this could be 20
years in prison.

In prison in South America.

And there I am, age 45.

So it could be 65 when I get out. An old
man.

Paraphyl.

Your belongings.

They gave me this clear plastic bag with
a toothbrush and a bottle of talcum

powder.

They left the room.

And they left six kilos of cocaine on
the table in front of me.

It was like an instant like that.

I said to myself, this cocaine could
come in handy as a currency in prison.

I just went into overdrive, put my hand
down into the bag, took out the bottle

itself, ripped the top off, emptied out
the contents, and just started

scooping up the cocaine into the bottle.

I managed to get the top back on, put
the talcum powder back into the plastic

bag.

They returned then.

They hadn't a clue what had just gone
on.

So one of them picked up the six bags of
cocaine, put it into a plastic bag,

and took it off to use as evidence.

And then we drove down to this building.

And I was handcuffed

to the stale staircase.

They'd be there with the Kalashnikov
rifles.

Pointing them over to me.

I hadn't a clue if they were allowed or
not.

My hands were down in my head.

It was like the new toy to play with.

Crazy.

I was sat in my position on the steel
staircase just trying to get as

comfortable as I could.

And then I was awoken.

I haven't got a clue what the time was.

The two guards led me into this room.

Hey, what's going on?

One of them comes over and shoves me
head down.

And I felt someone go with me trousers,
you know.

I started kicking, kicking back.

And then I got to batting.

Straight across the legs.

I'm struggling to get back up.

One of them shoved this dirty rag into
my mouth.

I said, this is it.

They're going to rape me.

I was arguably the lowest

point in my life.

It's the way the police or

the anti -drug squad personnel that are
in charge of law and order treat you.

What the hell are the prisons gonna be
like?

We were led down the dark corridors of
Los Tecas.

A bit of a horror show going down this
alleyway.

I really thought this was the biggest
asylum that I'd ever seen.

There was two guys there holding
handguns.

What the hell are they doing with guns?

A small

guy

who later found out was the boss.

He pops open the chamber to show me that
the bullets were live.

The head was zeroed in on the weapons.

What the hell are they doing with
weapons inside the prison?

It's just intimidation straight away.

I said, these guys are going to be
looking for something.

You had to pay an entrance fee to get
into the wing so that you could

get their protection from the rest of
the prison.

I don't have any money.

I've no way of getting any money.

If you don't get me the money, I'm
dying.

You know, these guys are gonna punish
you.

Okay. Okay.

I was frightened, you know.

I just slept on a piece of cardboard.

And the only available space...

Unfortunately, it was in the toilet.

I just had the towel, my old towel over
me, to use as a blanket.

I thought to myself, will you get
through one night, let alone eight

I was desperate for cash.

And drugs has been openly sold in the
wing every

evening, every day.

But stealing wasn't the job of the
bosses.

I knew I had the cocaine in the taco
bottle.

The only way I had of...

Making some money was to resort to
dealing cocaine myself.

I decided to approach Silvio.

How are you doing?

Great, how are you?

It seemed like I could trust him, so I
gave him a sample of the cocaine.

He told it was lovely.

Beautiful.

That's the best he's had for a long
while.

He said to me that he thought he could
move the cocaine very quietly

by just selling it to his own
countrymen.

He said they wouldn't say anything.

OK, OK, deal.

Yeah, it was a big gamble, but... ..sure
as in life a gamble.

See if he'll go off.

Give it to the lads, and then later on
he'd get a payment.

Thrown down in a flock.

Happy day, money was rolling in.

I was confident that I'd be alright.

Next thing I know, I got a tap on the
shoulder.

Looked round, he said, you, come with
me.

There was the boss The first question
they asked was they had

reason to believe that I've been selling
drugs

You've been selling drugs?

Yeah, yeah, hey

It was a look as if you'd just signed
your own death warrant.

The atmosphere in the room wasn't great
at all.

They put this cocaine onto a scale
straight away.

Inside I was trembling and panicking.

This could be heavy, heavy going down
here.

Could end up with a bullet.

He tested the cocaine to see if it was
any good.

He told it was lovely.

Unknowns to me, There was a coke drought
in Los Tecas.

And none of the bosses had coke to sell.

Buena, gringo.

There's 88 grams, which, when it's cut
down for them, meant there

was four times that amount.

So it was a lot of money.

By God, it's Christmas as it come at
once.

Muy bien.

So the only punishment was to go and
sleep back in the toilet

It beats a bullet any day of the week

The

first

phone call I made

From Las Pecas to my daughter, it was
very emotional.

Kai, I've been sentenced to eight years.

Slow down, sweetheart.

She seemed to think that lawyers could
be paid to maybe get me out and work

miracles and stuff like that.

Sweetheart, stop.

I had to be straight with her.

And, you know, prepare her for the
worst.

It was emotional.

I could hear her crying.

I wanted to cut it short because she was
gone through enough pain.

I'm going to have to go. My change is
running out.

Chin up, sweetheart.

I love you.

I'll be home before you know it.

I was going through enough pain myself.

There were times in your head that you
thought, will I ever get out of this

place alive anyway?

Will I ever see home again?

In Las Tecas, anything could happen at
any given minute.

There'd been rumours going around all
day that there was going to be a big,

big shootout.

First thing I noticed was Something
shoot across me head like...

I'd

never been under fire in me life.

Never been in a war zone.

It was total chaos.

And the bullets were just going
everywhere.

Crouched on the floor.

And we were just crying.

Boss let off a volley of shots about 12,

18 inches away from here.

It was just like an electric shock.

Going through your school.

I think it might have caused one of my
eardrums to shatter.

After about an hour and a half, the
gunfire ceased.

They run out of ammunition.

Literally run out of ammunition.

I was getting bad pains in the head.

I couldn't open my jaw, I couldn't eat.

I was in that much pain and I felt that
bad that I thought I was going to die.

I wanted to write home to my family.

But it was just to die there in Las
Tecas without a final word.

At least then they would find out what
actually happened.

I addressed home to my mother and
father, home to my son, my daughter.

I felt barely alone.

Everything that had been shut out before
just came.

Blood and... I'm sorry for all the pain

and upset that I caused you through this
misadventure.

I always thought I'd get out of this one
alive.

But if you're reading this letter now,
it's because I'm dead.

This day had actually come.

I stepped up into the outside world.

It was just, it was amazing.

An amazing feeling.

Even though I'd walked out of Las Tecas,
I wasn't free. I still wasn't free. I

was paroled.

To be truthful, the prospects of
spending another five and a half years

Caracas didn't seem like a nice
prospect.

They had to live in, like, a halfway
detention centre, which

is basically like a prison.

I wasn't going to be happy until I was
out of Venezuela.

So I decided to put the wheels in motion
to try and escape.

There was another Irish lad called
Billy.

Billy?

Yeah, who is it?

An ex -prisoner from Los Tecos who got
early parole.

Yeah, come on down here.

Billy'd been in prison a lot longer than
me. And he'd been in Venezuela a lot

longer than me.

How you doing?

Hi, Paul.

I explained to him that I wanted to head
for the border.

I'm not staying here.

I'm going home.

He was thinking of home.

He was thinking of Ireland, his family.

He just said to me, I'll come with you.

I learned through Billy that there was a
Colombian gang working out with one of

the bars.

We had to ask for a certain guy called
Miguel.

Miguel?

We proceeded to ask him.

of the possibilities of getting smuggled
over the border from Venezuela into

Colombia. We have no passport, no
identification.

Miguel, he sat there and talked for a
moment.

He said, si, posible, anything's
possible.

Look for a price.

You take drugs in a suitcase on an
aeroplane.

into Spain for us.

So I said, no way.

No way am I going to do any smuggling
again ever in my life.

But at the same time, I needed Miguel
and I needed to get across the border.

We shook hands.

And the deal was done.

We basically had to get out of the
country

within 24 hours.

There'd probably be a warrant put out
for my arrest.

Take us on an 18 -hour bus journey into
Colombia.

Billy had heard stories as well.

People who were actually caught.

Trying to escape, going across the
border.

Some of them were never heard of again.

The bus pulled in to Customs and
Immigration Centre.

Billy had a story that our passports had
been robbed and Miguel behind us.

was looking after us.

I noticed now it wasn't a soldier that
got on the bus.

It was the police.

And everyone had to produce ID.

You know,

you looked like a detective or
something.

The only two that didn't have OED were
the two foreigners who'd just come out

prison.

Inside, I was dying.

Passport?

Robo. Passport to Robo.

Miguel showed him his own passport.

He also had 500 ,000 to give to the
officer

for his trouble.

Well,

he wasn't working.

Two of you, get off the bus.

We weren't expecting this.

Get off the bus!

You stay there.

I could see the tears starting to swell
up in Billy's eyes.

And I wasn't far behind him.

And we were both facing returning to Los
Tecos.

Take off your clothes.

Take off your clothes.

Billy had like a money belt.

So I had the policeman's eyes light up.

Bring that to me.

Yeah.

He had about a thousand euro in the
money belt.

Is this for me?

You were looking at a policeman's wage
for, you know, a few months.

Is this for me?

Si, senor.

We just said, yeah. Si. Si, senor.

Now, you are trying to bribe me.

This is a big crime here.

In Venezuela.

It was just... It was terrible.

It was too much.

I said, this is it.

Okay, get dressed and get out.

That was it. He told us to get up, get
our bags, and return to the couch.

Quickly, before I change my mind.

If we hadn't have had the money belt or
the money on us, we'd have been back to

Las Vegas.

Self and Billy headed down towards
border control.

There was like a river that you had to
cross.

I led the way.

Billy led the way.

He was like a greyhound out of a trap.

And he does walk straight through.

I went straight by then, five seconds
later.

I just kept walking forward.

Didn't want to see that poxy country
again ever in my life.

And then we got completely over the
other side of the bridge, and our feet

firmly on Colombian soil.

It was pure delight.

I have to concentrate now on Miguel.

As far as he was concerned, we were
still taking drugs to spying for him.

Well done.

Now you work for us.

His boss wouldn't be arriving for
another day or so.

Tomorrow my boss will bring the suitcase
with the drugs.

So this gave us the breathing space of
like another 24 hours where we could

give Miguel the slip.

I woke up at 5 o 'clock in the morning.

Miguel was still asleep.

Gave Billy a nudge.

So the panic button started.

I said, come on, let's go.

There was a door to the right.

I was taking a big risk, I know.

It was just pure survival.

I just had to go for it.

He said, we've done it.

We're free.

So I found a payphone.

Hi, there we are.

I found up the Irish consulate in
Colombia.

Come on.

It was ringing and ringing.

Come on, come on.

Hola, hola.

Have you got English?

Great, yeah. I just explained to her
that myself am your friend.

Our passports have been stolen.

We're travelling around Colombia, we've
been robbed and we've lost our passport.

Would it be possible to get two
temporary passports to leave the

Yeah, my name is Paul Keeney.

You can?

And she said yes, certainly.

We can give you the passports.

What's this little one?

Yes.

This

is

great to be back on Irish soil.

I felt terrible guilt.

I felt such a fail putting everyone

in that situation in the first place.

Hi sweetheart, I've just landed.

I'll see you in 20 minutes.

I'm starting to rebuild my life.

But it'll always stick in your mind, one
you'll never forget.

That was a thing that was just horrific,
it was unbelievable.

I'd never want to go through that again,
as long as I live.