A BRIT mum-of-two accused of trying to smuggle £1.6million of drugs into Mauritius inside her son’s suitcase is reportedly being held in an infamously hellish prison.
Natashia Artug, 35, allegedly stuffed 24 packages of cannabis weighing 14kg inside her six-year-old son’s wheelie case.
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She now faces being stuck inside the womens’ section of the nightmarish Beau Bassin Central Prison for over a year while she awaits trial, the Mail Online reported.
The notorious slammer known for its “filthy” conditions and harsh treatment of inmates is located just outside the island capital Port Louis.
It houses around 135 women, and some inmates described horror conditions while having to spend hours outside “under the scorching sun”.
The jail reportedly has a “lack of hygiene, sanitation, and basic medical care”, according to a damming US State Department report in 2014.
The report also noted that prisons in Mauritius did not always meet international standards, and that drug abuse had been reported in jails across the island.
Natashia, from Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, was arrested alongside six Brits and her Romanian boyfriend accused of trying to smuggle a total of 161kg into the tropical island in the Indian Ocean.
Her six-year-old son was picked up by customs officials when the group landed at Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Airport from London Gatwick last month.
The boy was initially held by Mauritian cops but has since been released and is now back in the UK with his dad.
Natashia is said to be “vulnerable” and claims she was coerced into travelling to Mauritius by drug traffickers who threatened her family.
Her case is being treated with particular seriousness after cops found 14kg of cannabis wrapped in cellophane packages and stuffed into her son’s wheelie case.
Nonprofit group Justice Abroad said she did not know the bags contained cannabis.
Natashia was initially held with her son in the headquarters of the Anti-Drug and Smuggling Unit in Mauritius so they could be together.
But she has since been sent to the infamous Beau Bassin Central Prison after her son’s dad flew over, picked him up and brought him back home.
Over half of the women in the hellhole jail are said to be foreign – and most of them are serving sentences or on remand for drug offences.
Drug convictions in Mauritius can result in a mammoth 45-year jail sentence.
The 2014 US report also said: “Given the lack of administrative remedies, inmates’ relatives sometimes turned to private radio stations to denounce hygiene conditions or other problems.”
The report didn’t specify whether the harsh conditions also relate to the womens’ sections of prisons or just the much larger mens’ cells.
A Russian woman whose sister was being held at Beau Bassin Central Prison on drug charges slammed the prison’s conditions on social media.
She said: “Sometime I can communicate with [her sister], and she always complains on conditions of imprisonment.
“She doesn’t have normal access to medicines, clean drinking water. Sanitary conditions are terrible.
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The woman added in her post to Reddit: “She often hears verbal harassment and threats, sounds like ‘You’ll die here’. Abuse on racial prejudice.
“Most of the time the prisoners are in the prison yard under the scorching sun. Foreign prisoners are not allowed to wear hats.”
The Switzerland-based Association for the Prevention of Torture also highlighted conditions for women inmates in Mauritius in a report last year.
It called for more kitchen facilities and the addition of psychiatrists to provide mental health care.
The UK Government website also describes prison conditions in Mauritius.
The website reads: “Imprisonment is generally in small cells with a number of other detainees.
“Mauritius is one of the rare countries where time out of cell is from 6.15am to 5pm. Prison officials will normally speak English to British prisoners.”
It adds: “Many other detainees can also speak English although most of them will speak in the local language (Creole).
“While in detention, detainees can have access to the prison library where English books are available.
The government also claims that all prisons on the island “are Human Rights standards compliant”.
Since her imprisonment, Natashia has launched a crowdfunder appealing for £5,000 to fight the serious charges.
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Natashia’s partner Florian Lisman, 38 from Romania, was also arrested and was said to be carrying 32 bags of drugs, an iPhone and £260 in his luggage.
The other Brits arrested included Laura Kappen, 28, a bar worker from Orton Goldhay, Cambs, Shannon Holness, 29, a caterer, from Bretton, Cambs, Shona Campbell, 33, a cleaner from Standground, Cambs, Lily Watson, a caterer from Peterborough, Cambs, and window fitter Patrick Wilsdon, 21, also from Peterborough.
Each suspect was travelling on the British Airways flight from Gatwick with an Apple AirTag which is used to track an item’s location.
Justice Abroad claim these were used by a trafficking gang to keep tabs on the group’s movements with the drugs shipment.
Authorities on Mauritius branded the use of a child in the audacious drug smuggling plot as “outrageous and inhumane”.
They added: “This is one of the most revolting cases we have encountered in recent years.”
The drugs cache was found during a joint operation by the Customs Anti-Narcotics Section (CANS) and the Anti-Drug & Smuggling Unit (ADSU) at the airport.
Justice Abroad said Natashia suffers from fibromyalgia and is currently attending university.
They added: “This case raises serious concerns about the exploitation of a young mother by a criminal gang.
“She now faces criminal trial in Mauritius separated from her children and without the resources to mount an adequate defence and to put together the evidence of the duress and exploitation.”
The shocking arrests come amid a spate of Brits accused of drug smuggling around the world.
Bella May Culley, 19, is battling to avoid a 20-year jail sentence while pregnant after being arrested in Georgia.
The 19-year-old from Billingham, County Durham, denies knowingly smuggling cannabis and hashish from Thailand.
She says she was coerced by a brutal trafficking gang who allegedly burned her with an iron and threatened her family with beheading.
Bella claims she was duped into transporting the drugs by the Thailand-based gang – but prosecutors argue CCTV footage shows her calmly passing through Bangkok airport’s gates without raising the alarm.
In Sri Lanka, Charlotte May Lee is behind bars after allegedly attempting to smuggle £1.2million worth of synthetic kush, a highly potent cannabis variant.
The 21-year-old former air stewardess from South London, denies the allegations but was reportedly caught with 46kg of the substance packed into her suitcases.
If convicted, she could be handed a 25-year prison sentence in a country known for its tough anti-drug stance.
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