The British Embassy in Bangkok has issued a warning against attempting to smuggle cannabis into the UK, following a rise in the number of arrests of air passengers arriving from Thailand, Canada and the US.
The press release reads: "It was not worth the risk; jail warning for passengers flying to the UK after increase in cannabis arrests."
The UK's National Crime Agency is warning people arriving in the UK from Thailand, Canada and the United States (where possession of cannabis is either fully or partially decriminalised) that they face jail time if caught attempting to bring cannabis into the country.
By August 12 this year, 378 people have been arrested in connection with investigations into cannabis smuggling by air passengers and an estimated 15 tonnes of cannabis were detected and seized at UK airports in the same period, which is around three times more than in the whole of 2023.
The 2024 total also represents a staggering increase compared to the two tonnes seized in 2022.
According to the press release, over half of those arrested in 2023 (71) had flown in from US airports, 24 from Thailand and 24 from Canada.
Around 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 related to cannabis from the US.
People travelling with the drugs as couriers were allegedly told by their recruiters that they were only risking a fine if caught. The maximum sentence for cannabis importation in the UK is, in fact, 14 years in jail.
This year, 196 people have already been convicted and collectively sentenced to almost 188 years.
Passengers were most often found carrying between 15 and 40 kilos of cannabis inside their checked luggage. In one case, 51-year-old Spanish national Fernando Mayans Fuster was caught at Manchester Airport in May, with eight suitcases containing 158 kilos of the drug, after arriving on a flight from Los Angeles.
This is believed to be one of the largest passenger seizures of its kind at Manchester Airport. Mayans Fuster was jailed for three years and four months by the Crown Court on July 19.
On August 9, 11 British passengers were arrested at Birmingham Airport after a total of 510kg of cannabis was found in 28 items of luggage. All the passengers had travelled from Thailand, transiting through Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport.
They have been bailed until November 9th, pending further National Crime Agency (NCA) investigations. Their cases are believed to be linked.
In some cases, officers have recovered electronic trackers with the drugs, believed to have been placed by organised criminals so they could monitor the illicit loads.
NCA experts say the trend is being fuelled by these organised crime groups, who have access to cannabis grown overseas in locations where it is legal, and are recruiting couriers to transport it to the UK, where it can generate significantly larger profits for them than growing the drugs themselves.
The press release quotes James Babbage, NCA Director - General Threats, as saying that, in some cases, it was unclear whether the mules knew about the potential penalties but, in most cases, they were operating on behalf of organised criminal gangs.
