Peru drug mules 'could be home by Christmas if they help police bust gang which gave them £1.5million of cocaine' Drug mules Melissa Reid and Michaella McCollum Connolly have been offered the chance of freedom by Christmas However, they must help bring down the drugs gang which gave them £1.5million of cocaine The pair, both 20, were arrested in Lima last month Drug mules Melissa Reid and Michaella McCollum Connolly have been offered the chance of freedom by Christmas - if they help bring down the drugs gang behind the £1.5 million cocaine haul they were caught trying to smuggle out of Peru. And last night, faced with the alternative of 15 years behind bars, they were considering what to do. In an emotional phone call to her mother Debra, Melissa said: "I'm very confused." Offer: Drug mules Melissa Reid and Michaella McCollum Connolly have been offered the chance of freedom by Christmas - if they help bring down the drugs gang behind the £1.5million cocaine haul they were caught trying to smuggle out of Peru Choice: Faced with the alternative of 15 years behind bars, the pair are considering what to do. Above, Reid, left, and McCollum Connelly, right, are escorted from a truck by police at Sarita Colonia prison ahead of their court appearance on Wednesday Melissa called her mother during a fundraising event in her name on Friday night. Bursting in to tears, Debra told people at Kirkintilloch Miners Club in Glasgow: "Thank you so much. Your support keeps us strong. But the girls have been warned that a citation document, seen exclusively by The Mail on Sunday, contains a raft of damning texts, calls, money transfers and photos that do nothing to support the claim they were coerced into smuggling by armed Colombian mafia who kidnapped them in Ibiza. During a fundraising event in Glasgow on Friday night, Reid's mother Debra (pictured) told people: 'Thank you so much. Your support keeps us strong They have now been told that if they admit they fabricated the story and agree to stop shielding the criminals and collaborate in bringing them down, they could be out of prison in two months. "They hold their whole future in their hands," said Dr Juan Mendoza Abarca, head of the state attorney's anti-drugs unit ahead of a hearing on Tuesday. This is going to be their last chance to get an early termination on their sentence and by-pass a trial. They have the option of collaborating with the state prosecution or saying nothing and going to jail for a very long time. 'There is a possibility these two women can be out of prison in around two months but they simply can't plead guilty and say they were forced. They need to go into detail about who these other men involved are - what they look like and where we can find them. The evidence that we have is overwhelming and they don't have anything to suggest they were forced. Melissa, from Lenzie near Edinburgh, and Michaella, from Dungannon, Co Tyrone, both 20, confessed last week to drug smuggling. But they still insisted they were coerced and their defence strategy failed when prosecutors got the sentencing hearing cancelled. Melissa's parents, energy company manager Billy, 54, and National Grid administrator Debra, 53, have encouraged their daughter to plead guilty, but say they believe she was forced to carry drugs through Lima's Jorge Chavez airport. A source close to the case said: "If Melissa and Michaella do know more than they are letting on, then they face an agonising decision. 'Snitching on an international drugs gang obviously carries its risks, but spending some of the most important years of your life in a hellhole jail thousands of miles from home can't be very pleasant either.