The Bolivian Case

Flying out of Bolivia, three Norwegian teenaged girls are arrested with 22 kg of cocaine in their luggage. Thrown in jail, the young, beautiful girls immediately became tabloid fodder back home. But while all three were charged with the same crime, media images began to shape very different strategies of defense. Labels like “victim” and “naïve” are quickly attached to one, driving the first wedge between the front-page jailbird frenemies. Cue outrageous plots, including behind-bars pregnancies, illegal escapes and professional kidnappings—while the parties behind the plans turn out to be just as jaw-dropping.