Levi-April Whalley and Sophie Bannister were among 134 suspects arrested for smuggling a total of 5,609kg of cannabis into UK airports in 2023.
Even though they weren’t sent to jail, top law enforcement officials have issued a strong caution to travelers who are considering smuggling drugs into the country, stating that if caught, they are highly likely to face imprisonment.
However, despite the grave consequences of incarceration, the quantity of drugs being brought into the country by drug couriers has increased significantly, as reported by the National Crime Agency, often referred to as Britain’s FBI.
Last year a staggering 26,924kg of cannabis was seized from around 750 smugglers flying into UK airports – a five-fold increase on the year before.
By comparison, as recently as 2022, the total seized was just 2kg.
In 2024, 430 suspects were arrested at Heathrow Airport where 14,617kg of cannabis was seized.
The airports with the next highest incidences were Manchester, where approximately 135 individuals were arrested, and 4,815kg of cannabis was confiscated, and Birmingham, which saw 40 arrests and 1,410kg of cannabis seized.
Of the suspects, 460 were arrested having arrived from Thailand, 108 arriving from Canada and 63 arriving from the USA.
Around 290 were UK citizens, with 162 Malaysians, 86 Canadians and 52 Americans arrested on suspicion of smuggling cannabis into the UK on commercial flights.
Those caught included Spanish national Fernando Mayans Fuster, 51.
He was caught at Manchester Airport with eight suitcases containing 158 kilos of cannabis after arriving on a flight from Los Angeles.
Fuster was later jailed for three years and four months.
Last month Alex Murray, NCA Director of threat leadership, said: ‘Organised crime groups make significant profits by trafficking and selling perceived high-quality cannabis legally grown in the USA, Canada and Thailand illegally in the UK.
‘Couriers run the risk of a potentially life-changing prison sentence.
‘We reissue our appeal to anyone who is asked to smuggle cannabis to think very carefully about the potential consequences of their actions, and the risks they run.
‘Organised criminals can be persuasive and offer to pay smugglers.
‘But as the numbers show, the risk of getting caught is very high, and simply isn’t worth it.’
Britain’s best-known drug mules are the ‘Peru Two’, Michaella McCollum and Melissa Reid.
They were arrested at Jorge Chavez International Airport in Lima after being caught smuggling £1.5million of cocaine hidden in food packets in 2013.
They were sentenced to six years and eight months in a notorious high-security prison, Ancon 2.
After serving less than half her sentence, Ms McCollum returned to Ireland where she has since written a book about her notoriety and featured in a five-part Netflix series.
Meanwhile Ms Reid, from Glasgow, has gone on to work for a charity helping drug users.
