Australian mother-of-five Debbie Voulgrais learns her fate for smuggling 7kg of drugs into Taiwan

A mother-of-five has been sentenced to 16 years in prison after smuggling 7kg of drugs into Taiwan.

Debbie Voulgaris, 58, from Melbourne, was arrested at Taoyuan International Airport on December 10, 2023, after cocaine and heroin were found in plastic bags inside her luggage.

According to evidence presented to the Taoyuan District Court, Voulgaris picked up the suitcase containing the drugs - which had a street value of $40million NT - in Malaysia on 8 December 2023.

She flew to Taiwan two days later, with the intention of handing the drugs over to others once she arrived.

However, she was stopped by customs officers after authorities detected the packages in her luggage during an X-ray inspection.

Voulgaris initially vehemently denied that she knew about the drugs, before later claiming during pre-trial preparations that her ex-husband John was behind the scheme.

John, also from Melbourne, was issued a summons by the court to appear in Taiwan to provide evidence, but he never showed up.

Voulgaris later admitted that she had agreed to transport the drugs in return for $US1800 ($AU2834) as well as free flights and accommodation.

The maximum penalty for smuggling drugs into Taiwan is death or life imprison, however, the judge reduced Voulgaris’ sentence after taking into consideration her guilty plea and her family’s financial circumstances.

John Voulgaris, who runs a home loans business, previously told Australian media they were innocent and were set up by drug traffickers posing as overseas investors.

He said he had been doing genuine business transactions with the group for more than 16 years, but the latest proposal turned out to be a scam.

“We don’t know anything about bloody drugs and have never seen or touched them in our lives!” he told Daily Mail Australia in May last year.

“All we were doing was an overseas investment.

“When I found out [about her arrest], I tried to get in contact with them but they switched off their phones.”

Voulgaris’ children firmly believed in her innocence, rallying to support her by launching a change.org petition days after her arrest called “Help towards the freedom of Debbie from injustice”.

Her daughter also set up a GoFundMe to raise funds so her children could travel to visit her in prison.

“My mother has been detained in a foreign prison for the past seven months now and has been held under a very strict communication ban,” she wrote in July.

“My mother is currently facing the hefty penalty of either life imprisonment or the death penalty and has had no communication with anyone aside from lawyers, the Australian office in Taipei and foreigners in her cell for the past 7 months.

“She is in much need of emotional support and physical from her children, given that she has been deprived of our love and presence for almost a year.”

Voulgaris will be immediately deported to Australia once she is released from prison.