Toddie, 59, and Beezie, 61, met at the Douglas Aircraft Company assembly line in California in 1952.
Both had served their nation during World War II – Toddie in the Women’s Army Corps and Beezie in the top-secret Manhattan atomic bomb project.
Vera ‘Toddie’ Hays, 59, (left) and Florice ‘Beezie’ Bessire, 61, (right) were the best friends from La Pine, Oregon who were tricked into driving a caravan from Germany to India and smuggling 1.9 tonnes of hashish in Australia. in 1977. The “grandmothers of drugs” were imprisoned for 14 years
Toddie (left) and Beezie (right) were promised Toddie’s nephew, Vern Todd, paid vacation breaks across Europe and Asia. Illuminated to cover their faces with copies of Reader’s Digest while being taken to court in Sydney in February 1978
Shortly after the collapse of Toddie’s 12-month marriage, the two women went 50/50 in mortgage and bought a house in Newbury Park in Ventura County.
Theirs was a companionship based on trust, friendship and a common interest in the countryside.
When Toddie’s 34-year-old nephew, Vern Todd, offered a cost-effective trip to Europe and Asia in a caravan, the couple could not resist the offer.
No one could have imagined that the trip would also involve the trafficking of almost two tonnes of high quality Afghan hashish and eventually a 14-year prison sentence in an Australian prison without any provision for parole.
They would also earn a new nickname: drug grandmothers.
So how did two notable Oregon seniors find themselves cheated and turned into drug mules, earning Verne Todd up to $ 19 million if the caravan passed the trip untouched by law enforcement?
The “grandmothers of drugs” began their journey in the German city of Stuttgart, where the custom adaptation of an 8-meter (26-foot) Mercedes Benz caravan was completed. Pictured are secret compartments containing hashish bags found inside the truck when it was confiscated in Australia.
The extraction of 1.9 tons of hashish included more than 4,000 packages of one pound individually wrapped that are secreted along the entire length of the caravan floor and in its water tank. Huge drug seizure pictured with Toddie and Beezie van in the background
The handsome and charismatic young Todd had fallen in love with both Australia and a woman while riding a yacht in 1966 from Santa Monica, Australia to compete in the annual Sydney-Hobart race.
He made Sydney home and soon established himself as an actor, model and businessman. He even got a role in the stage production of Harry M. Miller of Boys in the Band in 1968 with Henri Szeps.
In the early 1970s, Vern also began to establish itself as a major player in the domestic marijuana trade, transporting large quantities of cannabis from Griffith and northwestern NSW to Sydney’s ever-growing market.
The Todd family in Los Angeles were unaware that the businessman’s “import / export” activities involved smuggling drugs.
Toddie and Beezie drove this Mercedes-Benz about 10,000 kilometers from Germany via Turkey through Austria, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan. The van, pictured in Turkey, was then shipped to Australia carrying hashish worth about $ 19 million.
In 1977, when he appeared unannounced on the doorstep of Toddie and Beezie in La Pine, Oregon – a small logging community of about 2,000 – Todd was warmly welcomed as Toddie’s long-time beloved nephew.
When he told his aunt his offer – a land holiday driving a specially built caravan for him 10,000 km from Stuttgart in Germany to Mumbai (now Mumbai), as well as a $ 25,000 fee – at first they forbade it, asking for time to think about it. .
Their first concern was Suzette, their aged poodle.
Beezie was skeptical. “No one gets a free lunch,” he told Toddie at the time. But after considering the proposal and agreeing with neighbors to take care of Suzette and take care of their home, they set off for Germany in late August.
Toddie did the driving while Beezie cooked meals, made minor repairs and toured. The highways in Germany and Austria were moving smoothly, but the highways gave way to roads that were ultimately more than just a goat road. Pictured is a washing line lined by the truck
The women had driven their own motorhome in the US, loved fishing and hunting, and mostly enjoyed a beer at night over a card game. What may seem like an impossible challenge to others their age has been an exciting adventure for them.
Verne told them that the purpose of delivering the caravan to Mumbai was to send it to Australia for a production company he had founded, shooting a documentary “in the Outback”. They would fly home from Mumbai before Christmas – in time to decorate their tree and turn on the lights in the pines of their property.
The couple spent a fortnight in Stuttgart, while the custom adjustment of the 8-meter length of the Mercedes-Benz diesel caravan was completed before starting in early September.
The route followed by the women was popular with backpackers and adventure lovers attracted by the cannabis cafés and hashish shops along the route. This photo was taken from the caravan as Toddie and Beezie waited in line at a border checkpoint in Pakistan
Toddie did all the driving while Beezie navigated, cooked meals and managed minor repairs. Although at first the highways in Germany and Austria went smoothly for women, the highways soon gave way to fine asphalt, potholes and what could best be described as “goats” as they passed through Yugoslavia and Bulgaria. Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan. , Pakistan and finally, India.
They actually crossed the Hippie Trail, a popular route for backpackers and adventure seekers drawn to cannabis cafés and hashish shops.
Bandits circled their vehicle overnight and nearly killed them as they hit the truck and tried to break the windshield. Beezie gathered their knives, an ax and several screwdrivers, ready to face the robbers in case they got into the van, as Toddie, numb from the exhaustion and effects of a sleeping pill, mostly slept through the attack.
A police officer told foreign tourists that the light in their van had saved their lives as the robbers would have been frightened by its magical and mysterious power.
Sandi Logan writes that Beezie’s natural warmth meant she made friends wherever she and Toddie drove. Beezie pictured in the caravan with an Indian mechanic who took the couple back on the road after another injury in Jaipur
In another case, women broke in the middle of a flooded river during the monsoon season in India, relying on villagers, a bicycle and a rusty jeep to save them from drowning.
When the women arrived in Mumbai in mid-October, they were ready to fly home. Toddie was ill, suffering from high blood pressure, sciatica and cataracts that were getting worse by the day, and Beezie was full.
But nephew Verne had other plans: he used an accomplice to threaten the women that if they did not continue in Australia and pick up the van, they would be hunted for the rest of their lives. The caravan was in Toddie’s name and he said government authorities would locate them because they did not escort the vehicle abroad.
Toddie (right) and Beezie (left) were arrested in 1978 when a huge collection of hashish landed in Melbourne. They were sentenced to 14 years in prison but released in 1983. The couple is pictured celebrating their freedom after returning to a caravan in La Payne, Oregon.
Despite Beezie’s anxious feelings about Todd’s true intentions, the women flew to Australia to wait for the caravan to arrive by sea in mid-December.
Unbeknownst to them, the Federal Drug Bureau was also waiting for the caravan, having assembled more than a dozen undercover agents and numerous surveillance teams codenamed Operation Genius.
Betrayed by Sandi Logan is published by Hachette Australia and is available here in paperback, e-book and audiobook
As the women signed the caravan in Australia with customs officials at the Melbourne docks, their fate was sealed. it was a matter of time before they were arrested.
Inspector Bob Drane and Agent Michele Khoury secretly went on to befriend the Americans, posing as a holiday couple who continued to beat women at various caravan parks, clubs and even a laundry once every six weeks. Australian “holidays”.
They were amazed at how cool and seemingly ignorant the Americans were about their precious cargo. He hoped that a sliding net containing unmarked cars, motorcycles, an army helicopter and surveillance and surveillance equipment would eventually lead them to their number one target: Vern Todd.
In mid-January, while the mines were about to attack Todd, he suddenly disappeared from his John Street business in Woollahra. Many drug dealers believe Todd was informed, as were his connections and widespread corruption at the time in Sydney’s politicians, law enforcement and legal circles.
That left Toddie and Beezie as the only suspects arrested by drug dealers for the mass import of 1.9 tonnes of hashish. The retrieval involved more than 4,000 one-pound individual packages secreted along the length of the caravan floor and into its water tank.
Beezie (left) and Toddie (right) surrendered to themselves and their Christian faith while in custody, serving sentences in three NSW prisons: Mulawa, Tomago and Norma Parker Center in Parramatta. The couple welcomed the opportunity to “dress up” for the weekend dinner
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