The National Crime Agency (NCA) has issued a warning to travellers arriving into the UK from Thailand, Canada and the United States, after reporting a huge increase in arrests of people smuggling cannabis.
So far in 2024, the NCA has seized around 15 tonnes of cannabis, a three-fold increase on the 2023 total of 5 tonnes and a significant increase on the 2022 total of 2 tonnes.
378 people have been arrested so far this year, compared to 136 in 2023. Nearly half of all arrests (184) this year related to cannabis that originated in Thailand, while 75 arrests related to cannabis originating from Canada, and 47 to cannabis from the US.
The NCA believe the rise in cannabis importation by domestic air flights is being fuelled by these organised crime gangs who have access to stock overseas in locations where it is legal, and recruiting couriers to transport it to the UK where it can generate greater profit on the black market.
“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,” NCA Director General of Threats James Babbage said.
“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.”
Mules hired to smuggle suitcases full of cannabis report being told sentences are lean in the UK for cannabis, and that they were only risking a fine if caught. However, the maximum sentence for cannabis importation in the UK is up to 14 years in prison. Passengers were most often found to be carrying between 15 and 40 kilos of cannabis in suitcases checked in as luggage, and in some instances, officers recovered electronic trackers with the drugs to monitor their progress.
196 people have already been convicted for importation this year, and have been handed sentences totalling almost 188 years.
In one case, however, 51-year-old Spanish national Fernando Mayans Fuster was caught at Manchester Airport with eight suitcases containing 158 kilos of the drug, after arriving on a flight from Los Angeles in May this year. The haul was believed to be one of the largest passenger seizures of its kind at Manchester Airport. Fuster was jailed for three years and four months at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court on 19 July.
On 9 August, 11 British passengers were arrested at Birmingham Airport after a total of 510 kilos of cannabis was found inside 28 suitcases. All the passengers had travelled from Thailand, transiting at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport. They have been bailed until 9 November pending further NCA investigation. Their cases are believed to be linked.
