Massive increase in cannabis being smuggled to UK airports in suitcases

The National Crime Agency says many people recruited as couriers are told they will only get a fine, when the maximum penalty is 14 years in prison.

The amount of cannabis seized from smugglers carrying the drug in suitcases to UK airports has tripled in less than a year, officials have revealed.

So far in 2024 around 15 tonnes of the drug has been uncovered at airports, compared to five tonnes throughout the whole of 2023, and two tonnes in 2022.

A total of 136 suspects were arrested in 2023, while 378 have been detained so far this year.

Passengers are being stopped with massive amounts of cannabis in their luggage.

Recent cases include 51-year-old Spanish national Fernando Mayans Fuster, who was stopped at Manchester Airport with eight suitcases containing 158 kilos of cannabis, after flying in from LA in May.

He was jailed for three years and four months at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court on July 19.

Cannabis vacuum packed in black plastic packed in a suitcase. — One of Spanish national Fernando Mayans Fuster’s suitcases seen filled with vacuum-packed cannabis (NCA/PA)

Eleven passengers were arrested and bailed until November 9.

This year around half of those arrested (184) travelled from Thailand, 75 from Canada, and 47 from the US.

There have been reports of couriers being paid up to £10,000 per trip, but they are wrongly told that they will escape with a fine if caught.

Cannabis wrapped in plastic and packed into a suitcase. — A suitcase full of cannabis seized from Lyndsey Russell, from Grimsby, who was arrested at Manchester Airport after flying in from Thailand (NCA/PA)

NCA director general of threats James Babbage said: “In some cases it is unclear whether the mules knew what the potential penalties are but in most cases they were operating on behalf of organised criminal gangs.

“And it is those couriers who are running the risk of a potentially life-changing prison sentence.

“Gangs can make significant profits by selling and smuggling perceived high-quality cannabis legally grown in the USA, Canada and Thailand illegally in the UK.

“We would appeal to anyone who is approached to engage in smuggling to think very carefully about the potential consequences of their actions, and the risks they will run.

“We know organised criminals can be persuasive, and offer to pay couriers. But the risks of getting caught are high, and it just isn’t worth that risk.”