Sandi Logan on the most unlikely drug-running grannies in Australian history in 'Betrayed'

Good Reading Podcast

In 1977 Vera 'Toddie' Hays and Florice 'Beezie' Bessire thought they were about to embark on the trip of a lifetime when Vera's nephew Vern Jr made them an unbelievable offer: drive a camper van from Stuttgart to Bombay and finally to Australia. Little did they know the van was packed with two tonnes of hashish. 'Betrayed' is the fascinating inside story of Toddie and Beezie's wild ride across continents, their arrest by Australian narcotics agents and all that the women faced in their desperate fight for release. Sandi Logan was on the ground at the time and draws from the women's diaries and interviews to tell the incredible tale of the infamous 'drug grannies'. In this episode Gregory Dobbs chats to Sandi Logan about the proposition put to Toddie and Beezie by their nephew Vern Jr, the arduous journey across Europe and the sub-continent, and the struggle for freedom in an Australian political environment that was stacked against them.