British women accused of cocaine smuggling in Peru protest innocence They had no idea she had travelled to Peru until the country's police reported they had arrested the pair on Wednesday. On Monday, Miss McCollum Connolly's sister Samantha said the family were "stunned" by the detentions and were struggling to come to terms with the news. She said: "She's the baby, I'm her older sister. This is a normal family, this is not a normal situation. It's all in the air. The pair have both reportedly protested their innocence and have refused to eat for the past week in their cells at a Lima police station. But police in Lima claimed they had confessed their guilt, it has been reported. Although the girls have yet to be formally interviewed as they have not been provided with a translator, Major Manuel Sicilia, who heads the investigation said: "they have admitted it informally to me and officers at the airport who arrested them." They are okay but are obviously worried about their families and what the future holds for them," he told The Daily Mail. He insisted they were not being held in "hellhole conditions." They have a bed each and share a bathroom with other women. All the guards are female. The women get three meals a day, typically porridge and bread for breakfast, lentils or refried beans for lunch and the same sort of dinner along with water and tea. British consular staff have been to visit the women and they have been able to speak to their families with phone cards they left them. The couple could face up to 25 years in the Peruvian capital's notorious Santa Monica de Chorrillos if they are found guilty. Miss Reid, a former sales adviser for Scottish and Southern Energy from Lenzie near Glasgow, had been living on the Spanish island of Ibiza since June, where she became friends with Miss McCollum Connolly, from Dungannon, Co Tyrone. Miss Reid's mother Debra said she had "no idea" her daughter had gone to Peru, and thought she was still in Ibiza with her friends. A friend said: "No one knew she was even there. We thought she was in Ibiza and can't believe this. The pair are thought to have been recruited as drug mules while in Ibiza, where they were working in bars and clubs for the summer. Gangs typically offer recruits around £10,000 per trip. Peru this year overtook Colombia as the biggest cocaine producer in the world, according to the United Nations. The Foreign Office is providing consular assistance to Miss Reid. Miss McCollum Connolly was travelling on an Irish passport so is being aided by diplomats from the Irish embassy in Mexico City.