Drugs mule Melissa Reid has been freed from prison in Peru and is on her way home to Scotland.

The 22-year-old, from Lenzie in East Dunbartonshire, was jailed in 2013 for trying to smuggle around £1.5m of cocaine to Spain, along with her friend Michaella McCollum from Co Tyrone in Northern Ireland.

Authorities in Peru made the decision to expel her from the country at a hearing last month. They said Reid met the legal requirements to be released. She served around a third of her six years and eight months sentence.

Reid then faced a wait of up to 20 days to allow for the full release process to be completed. The convicted cocaine smuggler was released on Tuesday before being transported by car directly to a special area inside Lima Airport.

The Peruvian authorities then handed her over to the British Embassy to get a flight home to Scotland. It is understood she will be back in the UK on Wednesday morning.

A Facebook page set up by Reid's family posted a message of thanks to those who had lent their support during her battle for freedom.

The statement read: "To everyone who has taken the time to message me or post on the page I send my heartfelt thanks. This page has been amazing and brought me in touch with so many kind-hearted people.

"I know Melissa will be so touched when I show her all the love and support you have shown for her and the Reid family over the last couple of years."

At the court hearing in May, a magistrate ruled that she had been remorseful and shown her "intention to be reinserted back in society" at an earlier hearing.

Her co-accused McCollum, 23, left prison in April after serving just over two years but her release conditions require her to to stay in Peru for an undisclosed period of time on parole.

McCollum and Reid faced the prospect of a maximum 15-year prison term but struck a behind-closed-doors plea bargain to secure a shorter sentence.

They had previously been held at Virgen de Fatima prison in Lima but were moved to the Ancon 2 prison, where McCollum was reportedly held in a cell with 30 other prisoners.

The Scottish Prison Service says it has had no contact from the Peruvian authorities since a request for a transfer back to Scotland was made under the Prisoner Transfer Agreement was made two years ago and they are not involved in her case.

Reid will return home a free woman and will not enter the Scottish prison system.

The women were caught with the £1.5m haul of drugs at Lima Airport as they attempted to board a flight to Madrid in Spain.

Customs discovered 24lb of the drug in food packages hidden in their luggage.