A Melbourne woman has revealed the heartbreak of taking her first international flight not to a tropical beach holiday she once imagined – but instead to visit her mother in a foreign prison.
Debbie Voulgaris, 58, is serving 15 years for drug smuggling after being caught with Class A drugs worth $1.9million at Taoyuan International Airport in Taiwan on December 10, 2023.
Now Ms Voulgaris’s daughter Maria and her siblings make regular trips to Taiwan to spend time with her after she narrowly avoided the death penalty.
The mother-of-five had never been in trouble with the law and initially ‘vehemently denied’ knowing the drugs were there, later pleading guilty in a bid to avoid being executed.
Ms Voulgaris still claims she is innocent and believes she was set up by African scammers who were communicating with her ex-husband.
For the first eight months she was locked away, her children were not allowed to see her due to a no-communication order, but once the ban was lifted, they made the journey they never imagined taking.
‘I always assumed my first international flight would be a flight for a family holiday, and unfortunately that wasn’t the case,’ Maria said.
‘Instead, it was a direct eight-hour flight to reunite with my mother after being held on a communication ban for eight months.
Debbie Voulgaris, 58, is serving 15 years for drug smuggling after being caught with Class A drugs worth $1.9million
Ms Voulgaris was arrested at Taoyuan International Airport in Taiwan on December 10, 2023
‘Now that the communication ban has been off for a year, my siblings and I try our best to visit our mum as much as we possibly can.’
Ms Voulgaris shares a cell with 10 other women and is allowed visitors on weekdays. They can only see her through a soundproof glass window, with conversations taking place on a phone.
Each meeting lasts just 15 minutes.
Maria said she and her siblings always bring food, waking early to buy fresh fruit and meat from local markets.
‘First things first, we take it upon ourselves to organise mum’s food,’ she explained in a social media video.
‘Each prisoner is granted and permitted two kilos worth of food a day. Before each visit, my brother would take it upon himself to wake up early to go visit any markets and stores to ensure that my mum gets the best quality of fruits and meat.’
Maria praised the Taiwanese locals she has met on her visits, who left her ‘in awe’ of their kindness.
‘Who knew that you would meet someone one day and the next, upon your arrival to Australia, they would be visiting your mother, feeding your mother, clothing your mother, all for the cost of nothing but pure kindness,’ she said.
Her daughter Maria (pictured) said she always brings food to her mum in prison
Ms Voulgaris is allowed visitors on the weekdays but remains behind a soundproof glass window at all times
She described her mother’s ordeal as ‘a story of deep betrayal, a story that haunts me daily’ but said she was determined to be open with the thousands who follow her online about what goes on during prison visits.
‘Watching my mum go through so much pain and suffering hasn’t been easy, and having her oceans away hasn’t been something that’s easy to accept,’ Maria said.
‘But when this is the type of love you are fed daily, even from behind a prison cell, when we’re only permitted contact twice a month, yet this is the love that still reaches me, that’s a love worth holding on and fighting for.’
Taiwan police alleged Ms Voulgaris joined a drug trafficking group, which intentionally planned to smuggle the drugs across Asia.
According to the allegations, the criminal group agreed with Ms Voulgaris to pay a reward of just US$1,800 (AU$2,700), along with the costs of accommodation and transport.
They claim the group gave her luggage to take on the flight that secretly contained around US$1.25million (AU$1.88million) worth of heroin and cocaine, which was picked up by the airport’s X-ray screening.
Ms Voulgaris claims she took the trip as a favour to her ex-husband, John Voulgaris, who was unwittingly mixed up in an African scam and has said she did not believe he would intentionally involve her in a crime.
On June 10, News+ alleged that Ms Voulgaris’ husband was caught up in a ‘black money scam’ when he asked his ex-wife to travel.
Ms Voulgaris claims she took the trip as a favour to her ex-husband John Voulgaris (pictured)
The scam presents victims with a narrative that a huge amount of money has been physically stained in some way, then victims are instructed to retrieve money-cleaning chemicals in exchange for a portion of the cash.
Instead, drugs are often hidden in secret compartments of the suitcases they are given.
The program alleged that Mr Voulgaris flew to London and Laos to pick up suitcases that were brought to a hotel in Melbourne.
Mr Voulgaris then allegedly sent Ms Voulgaris to retrieve the next suitcase.
‘Brother, I’m sending my ex-wife. Better nothing goes wrong,’ a message sent from Mr Voulgaris to the alleged scammer’s account read.
Ms Voulgaris travelled to Laos twice to pick up suitcases, but again the money cleaning failed.
Mr Voulgaris has not been charged with any crime and has previously said he and his ex-wife had been set up.
He previously denied the allegations to Daily Mail Australia, declaring his ex-wife is ‘bloody innocent!’
‘We have been set up! We don’t know anything about bloody drugs and have never seen or touched them in our lives,’ he said in May last year.
During the trial in August last year Ms Voulgaris’ lawyer Leon Huang said it was ‘essential’ her ex took the stand as he was the only person who could confirm her claims.
However, Mr Voulgaris did not respond to a subpoena ordering him to give evidence at Taoyuan District Court, and was a no-show at his wife’s hearing.
