'Cocaine Cassie' looks unrecognisable as she reveals she's returning to Australia 'really soon'


Cassie Sainsbury looks unrecognisable from the broken figure she once cast in her latest Instagram post as the convicted drug smuggler confirms she will soon be returning to Australia.

Sainsbury spent three years locked up in the notorious El Buen Pastor prison after being convicted for smuggling 5.8kg of cocaine hidden inside headphones in April 2017. 

She was released in April last year to serve the remainder of her six-year sentence on parole in the Colombian capital Bogota due to overcrowding in jails amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

The 26-year-old, who said ‘exercise and diet’ was behind her weight loss, sports a different figure than the one broadcast across Australian screens following her arrest.

During an Instagram Q&A Sainsbury was asked when she will be returning home to South Australia to which she responded: ‘Really soon!’     

Cassie Sainsbury looks unrecognisable in her latest Instagram post as the convicted drug smuggler confirms she will soon be returning to Australia

Cassie Sainsbury looks unrecognisable in her latest Instagram post as the convicted drug smuggler confirms she will soon be returning to Australia

'Cocaine Cassie' Sainsbury has started sharing racy photos on subscription only website OnlyFans in order to fund her life in Columbia after being released from prison

‘Cocaine Cassie’ Sainsbury has started sharing racy photos on subscription only website OnlyFans in order to fund her life in Columbia after being released from prison

Sharing a snippet of what's to come on her new raunchy account, Sainsbury posted a photo of her in lacy white underwear to her Instagram on Friday with a link to the site

Sharing a snippet of what’s to come on her new raunchy account, Sainsbury posted a photo of her in lacy white underwear to her Instagram on Friday with a link to the site

Sainsbury has started sharing racy photos on subscription only website OnlyFans in order to fund her life in Columbia after being released from prison.

Sharing a snippet of what’s to come on her new raunchy account, Sainsbury posted a photo of herself in lacy white underwear in February with a link to the site. 

The 26-year-old is charging subscribers $39.99 a month to check out her sultry snaps.

She has so far shared two photos to the account with a caption reading: ‘What happens next?’ With a winky emoji.

Sainsbury had earlier shot down rumours she was paid cash by men in Australia in exchange for semi-naked pictures while on parole. 

Photos surfaced in August last year appearing to show the South Australian lying on a bed wearing lacy underwear and showing her distinctive stomach tattoo.  

A media report claimed Sainsbury had been making $400 a week from a man she sends explicit photos to and included an online exchange between the pair. 

‘Well I’m happy with the amount you offered, like I’m not the sort of person to be like, no that’s not enough give me more,’ she wrote to the man, according to the Courier Mail.

She also wrote: ‘How do I know that you sent the money?’ and explained that the photo could be verified by her Facebook profile picture. 

During an Instagram Q&A Sainsbury was asked when she will be returning home to South Australia to which she responded: 'Really soon!'

During an Instagram Q&A Sainsbury was asked when she will be returning home to South Australia to which she responded: ‘Really soon!’

According to her site, the 25-year-old is charging subscribers $39.99 a month to check out her sultry snaps

According to her site, the 25-year-old is charging subscribers $39.99 a month to check out her sultry snaps

But a week later, Sainsbury denied being paid for any photos during an interview with Brisbane radio station B105.

‘It actually didn’t go down the way it has come out in the media. I did not receive any money at all for any photo,’ Sainsbury said. 

She was then asked by hosts Stav, Matt, and Abby if she had setup an account on adult site OnlyFans where users are paid for racy content. 

‘I had never even heard of this page until I got a whole heap of messages from people saying “What’s your OnlyFans ID?” And I was like “What? What is that?” Sainsbury replied.  

She also revealed she had ended her engagement to fellow inmate Joli Pico, 29, from Venezuela, after a nine-month romance behind bars. 

Pico, who is still serving her sentence for theft in Columbia, had moved on with another inmate, according to Sainsbury. 

‘Unfortunately things with Joli, they didn’t last. I came out of prison and then she became a different person, and she got with somebody else inside as well.’ 

When asked if her former girlfriend had cheated on her she replied it was ‘difficult’ and had her doubts about whether the relationship would last once one of them was on the outside.     

Sainsbury spent three years locked up in the notorious El Buen Pastor prison in Colombia after being convicted for smuggling 5.8kg of cocaine hidden inside headphones in April 2017. She is pictured attending a court hearing in Bogota on August 9, 2017

Sainsbury spent three years locked up in the notorious El Buen Pastor prison in Colombia after being convicted for smuggling 5.8kg of cocaine hidden inside headphones in April 2017. She is pictured attending a court hearing in Bogota on August 9, 2017

Sainsbury was released in April last year to serve the remainder of her six-year sentence on parole in Bogota due to overcrowding in jails amid the COVID-19 pandemic

Sainsbury was released in April last year to serve the remainder of her six-year sentence on parole in Bogota due to overcrowding in jails amid the COVID-19 pandemic

Cassie Sainsbury was arrested with 5.8 kilograms of cocaine (pictured) concealed in her luggage at Bogota's El Dorado International Airport in April 2017

Cassie Sainsbury was arrested with 5.8 kilograms of cocaine (pictured) concealed in her luggage at Bogota’s El Dorado International Airport in April 2017

While behind bars, Sainsbury (pictured left) became engaged to fellow inmate Joli Pico, 29, (pictured right) from Venezuela

While behind bars, Sainsbury (pictured left) became engaged to fellow inmate Joli Pico, 29, (pictured right) from Venezuela 

Of her relationship with fellow inmate Pico, the South Australian had previously said she had not expected it. 

‘Honestly, it was the least thing that I expected to find in prison,’ she told 60 Minutes in April 2020.

‘It started as a friendship and then out of nowhere it just turned into a relationship.’

The pair were together for nine months before Pico proposed to Sainsbury in front of their cell mates late last year. 

Sainsbury and Pico (pictured) have ended their relationship that lasted for nine months while behind bars in Columbia

Sainsbury and Pico (pictured) have ended their relationship that lasted for nine months while behind bars in Columbia 

In August last year, Sainsbury’s mother Lisa Evans had pleaded with the Australian Government to help her daughter who she said was struggling to make ends meet while stuck in Columbia.  

‘I’m thinking about starting a petition to get help for my daughter Cassie,’ Ms Evans posted on social media earlier this year. 

‘I need our government to help this kid. I can’t fight the Colombian judicial system by myself. I need them to help her while she is in the country. Or help me get her home.’ 

‘Cassie receives no help from our government during this pandemic. She cannot work etc.’ 

‘Side note… our government repeatedly ignores my requests for help!!!’

Sainsbury has resorted to selling nude photos to Australian men to make money, prompting her mother Lisa Evans to call on Scott Morrison to intervene and bring her home

Sainsbury has resorted to selling nude photos to Australian men to make money, prompting her mother Lisa Evans to call on Scott Morrison to intervene and bring her home

Sainsbury's mother Lisa Evans (left) said she is going to start a petition for the Australian Government to help her daughter

Sainsbury’s mother Lisa Evans (left) said she is going to start a petition for the Australian Government to help her daughter 

Three months earlier, Sainsbury took to Facebook to say she was struggling financially in locked down Bogota.

‘To everyone that has been asking, yes I’m okay. The situation is definitely difficult here in Colombia and more so when there’s no work and no way to receive my visa, but hoping things will get better soon. However I’m okay and staying safe,’ she wrote in June.

Sainsbury worked at Club 220 in western Sydney in a desperate bid to make ends meet in 2017, prior to her drug smuggling attempt Pictured: Sainsbury on the Club 220 website

Sainsbury worked at Club 220 in western Sydney in a desperate bid to make ends meet in 2017, prior to her drug smuggling attempt Pictured: Sainsbury on the Club 220 website 

Sainsbury has also spoken about her former job as a sex worker in western Sydney before her thwarted drug smuggling attempt. 

She worked at Club 220 in early 2017 in a desperate bid to make ends meet after her and then-fiance Scott Broadbridge’s gym went under. 

‘Everyone makes mistakes and I was looking for a way to get out of the hole I was in. It got to a point where I had rent to pay and bills and shopping, everything was piling on top of me,’ she told WHO Magazine.

‘Everyone assumed that because I worked at the brothel, then I was guilty of being involved with drugs. For a lot of people, sex work and drugs go hand in hand.’

Sainsbury claimed she only intended to work as a receptionist, but after arriving at the brothel her bosses convinced her to become a prostitute.

‘I got there and [they said] ”you’re not the type of person to be a receptionist, you’re the sort of person who needs to try and be a sex worker”,’ she said.

‘I wasn’t comfortable doing it, I didn’t like doing it. [But] if it wasn’t that then it was like ”what else?”   

A TIMELINE OF THE COCAINE CASSIE CASE:

April 2017: Cassie Sainsbury, then 22, is arrested at Bogota’s El Dorado international airport trying to smuggle 5.8 kilograms of cocaine inside 18 separate packages of headphones.

November 2017:  Sainsbury is sentenced to six years in a Colombian prison for trafficking cocaine. 

February 2018: Sainsbury splits from her Adelaide-based fiance Scott Broadbridge.

During this time Sainsbury begins studying Spanish, taking classes from volunteer groups and teaches English for two hours each day while behind bars

2019: Sainsbury’s parole process is due to begin, however, her hearing is delayed due to a high profile prison break, a food poisoning outbreak and allegations of corruption.

December 2019: Sainsbury reveals she is in a relationship with a fellow prisoner, a woman named Joslianinyer Pico.

April 2020:  Sainsbury is suddenly released on parole after the president signs a decree releasing 4,000 prisoners over concerns of overcrowding in prisons during the coronavirus outbreak. 

She is currently on parole in Bogota.  

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