Authorities have stated that the majority of the couriers, who are eligible to get compensation of up to ten thousand pounds, are coming from nations that have legalised cannabis for personal use and are permitting growing.
Investigators have apprehended hundreds of cannabis couriers who were attempting to transport suitcases full of the drug through airports in the United Kingdom.
According to the National Crime Agency, traffickers are deceiving them into thinking that the United Kingdom’s authorities are lenient toward cannabis and will only fine them.
In July, a man who arrived in Mexico from Los Angeles with 158 kilogrammes of a Class B drug that had a street worth of one million pounds was sentenced to more than three years in prison. The substance was found in the baggage of the man and his children.
At Birmingham airport, eleven British tourists from Thailand were detained last month after Border Force agents allegedly discovered 510 kilogrammes of cannabis in their suitcases. The passengers were passengers from Thailand.
“It’s quite brazen,” said Charles Yates, who is the deputy head of the National Crime Agency. Couriers are just walking through airports with suitcases full of cannabis, under the impression that they will not be discovered and that, in the event that they are in fact discovered, they will only be subject to a fine.
“The reality is considerably different, and we are being successful in making a large number of arrests and seeing couriers go to jail. Over the course of the last few years, the numbers have experienced a significant increase.
In 2022, there were 17 arrests of this kind, 136 arrests in the previous year, and there have already been 378 arrests so far this year. During the same time period, the quantity of cannabis that was taken into custody increased from two to fifteen tonnes.
The majority of the couriers, who are able to receive payments of up to ten thousand pounds from criminal organisations, are coming from nations that have legalised cannabis for personal use and are permitting agricultural growing.
About a dozen countries, including Canada, Thailand, Germany, and certain regions of the United States, are included in this group.
According to Mr. Yates, most of the two million people who use marijuana in the United Kingdom have the mistaken belief that cannabis that is cultivated legally is a superior and more potent product, and they are willing to pay a higher price for it.
Indeed, the THC level (potency) of cannabis grown lawfully in the United Kingdom is comparable to that of cannabis grown legally in other countries. I believe that the people who trade drugs are just very good at marketing it in the United Kingdom.
The forty-year-old Canadian Chelsea Allingham came at Heathrow Airport from Toronto in May with two suitcases full of cannabis. She had reached the bar of her hotel when officers from the National Crime Agency approached her and placed her in handcuffs.
Although authorities from the Border Patrol had discovered the drug, they let Allingham to get her bags from the carousel and then followed her as she handed them over and sat down for a celebratory drink. She served a ten-month sentence in prison.
James Babbage, the Director General of Threats for the National Crime Agency, made the following statement: “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 are aware that organised criminals have the ability to persuade one another and offer to pay couriers. On the other hand, the likelihood of being caught is rather significant, and the danger just isn’t worth it.
In order to target those involved in drug supply, including the networks that are behind it, the National Crime Agency (NCA) is actively engaging with partners like as the Border Force here in the United Kingdom and law enforcement agencies around the world. One of the ways in which we might accomplish this is by focussing on those smugglers who make a significant contribution to the supply chain.
In a statement, Seema Malhotra, the Minister for Migration and Citizenship, stated that illegal substances are harmful to communities and provide fuel for criminal groups. People who seek to bring them into our country will not be tolerated with any kind of respect.
“The officers of our Border Patrol are dedicated to locating and seizing cannabis as well as other illegal narcotics, and in the previous year, the Border Patrol seized an unprecedented quantity of cannabis.
“Anyone caught bringing cannabis to the UK will face the full force of the law, and Border Force will continue to work relentlessly alongside the NCA to keep illegal substances off our streets.”