COBOURG, Ont. - An Ontario woman has been arrested in Peru for allegedly trying to smuggle 12.6 kilograms of cocaine out of the country.
Local media reports say Deidre Rankin, 26, was arrested at the Jorge Chavez international airport in the capital of Lima on Dec. 26.
A close friend of the Cobourg, Ont., woman, who's done some modelling in the past, says Rankin left Canada on Dec. 10. She told her friends she was going to Spain for a photo shoot.
Judith Alexander of Cobourg, Ont., says Rankin then updated her Facebook page from the Netherlands and then Peru.
Three days after her arrest, a Rankin posting on her Facebook page said: "Good girl, bad company."
Alexander says Rankin's friends have started a Facebook page to raise money for her defence as well as for basic necessities of life, like water and toilet paper for their friend while she's in jail.
A Foreign Affairs spokeswoman says they are aware of the arrest of a Canadian citizen in Peru and that Canadian consular officials in Lima are in contact with local authorities, and are providing consular assistance to the Canadian involved.
