Coca-cola smuggler Jamie Méndez who claimed the union killed a relative caught negotiating a fee

A botched cocaine smuggler who claimed she was pressured into doing the job by a powerful drug syndicate and sent her a video of her sister-in-law’s murder, haggled over her pay and bragged about her knowledge of drug trafficking, new documents have revealed .

American drug mule Jamie Hudson Méndez, 44, was caught with 2.5kg of high-purity cocaine worth nearly $ 1 million lined inside padded vests in his luggage at Christchurch International Airport last September.

Mendez, who had already been jailed for smuggling heroin in France, arrived in New Zealand after “spending a vacation” in Africa for 12 days.

New documents released to the Herald show that Mendez bought five padded jackets at a “flea market store” in Zimbabwe.

Then, Méndez bought his plane ticket in Bolivia six days before he flew out of Ethiopia and transited through Singapore.

When he landed in Christchurch with a medium checked suitcase and a backpack in hand luggage with his personal items, red flags were raised.

His suitcase was X-rayed and customs officials pointed out inconsistencies on his screen.

And when they investigated further, they found around 2.5 kg of cocaine lined inside the five jackets.

Mendez, of Phoenix, Arizona, was charged with importing the illegal Class A drug and was jailed in Christchurch District Court last month for six years and nine months.

Her lawyer claimed that she was threatened and coerced by a drug syndicate who sent her a video recording of the murder of a woman who it believed was her sister-in-law.

But the new documents reveal a confident Mendez demanding $ 15,000 for the smuggling work.

In text messages obtained by the authorities, Méndez highlights his “disgust for the amount they pay me.”

“As much as I think I do not know much about these jobs … in fact I have made some trips and they have made me job offers, so I know the prices of most routes,” said the audacious Méndez, alluding to his above form for Global Drug Trafficking.

In May 2018, he arrived in Paris on a flight from Johannesburg, South Africa, with more than 2 kg of heroin in his checked luggage.

She was arrested and imprisoned in France for 13 months before being released on June 17 of last year and sent back to the United States.

After his arrest in Christchurch, a text message on his phone reveals his disgust at his part of the smuggling.

“When I get to Kiwi Land … I would call you,” he wrote.

“I want to get paid $ 15k. I won’t accept anything less than that. Although it’s ridiculously low, I know you would also do something nice for yourself as a middleman … Tell whoever my money comes with you.”

He then boasted that if there were delays, he would leave the country, possibly with the help of the US Embassy.

“I am an American, they would take me back home.”

When she was sentenced last month, Chris White, a prosecutor for New Zealand Customs, said that while there was no evidence that she had ever received money for her smuggling, perhaps it was only because she was caught at the border.

Judge Stephen O’Driscoll said his previous conviction in France was an aggravating feature of the case.

He told Mendez that two convictions in two countries related to the importation of drugs would now mean that “every law enforcement agency in the world will now have it on their radar.”