Michaella McCollum, who was convicted for drugs smuggling in Peru, arrived in Ireland on Saturday after being allowed to leave the South American country. McCollum had been released on parole five months previously after serving less than half of the six year and eight month sentence she was given.

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McCollum was convicted of trying to smuggle £1.5m ($1.94m) worth of cocaine from Peru to Spain. Melissa Reid from Scotland was also convicted after the two were arrested at Lima airport in 2013.

Reid returned to Glasgow in June under an early release scheme for first-time drug offenders.

McCollum, 23, arrived in Dublin airport on Saturday night after being granted permission to return to her home in Northern Ireland.

In an interview with Irish broadcaster RTE after her initial release on parole, McCollum called her decision to smuggle cocaine to Europe "a moment of madness" and said that if she had succeeded she would have "had a lot of blood on my hands".

"I could have potentially killed a lot of people, not directly, but I could have caused a lot of harm to people", she told the interviewer.

McCollum did not speak to press when she arrived at the airport and arrived dragging two suitcases behind her.

Michaella McCollum
Michaella McCollum and Melissa Reid, arrested at Lima's airport for carrying cocaine in their luggage, sit in a Peruvian courtroom on August 21, 2013. Getty Images