A drug smuggling gang paid excess baggage fees in a bid to sneak £13.8 million of cannabis into the UK — and it was the sheer weight of their suitcases that helped give them away.
The couriers had travelled from Thailand to the UK via Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, and paid excess baggage fees in Bangkok because their luggage was so heavy. They were arrested at Birmingham Airport in August 2024, and have been sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court.
Border Force officers discovered the class B drug packed into 22 suitcases. Eleven people were arrested in total, and eleven people were charged with attempting to carry, remove, deposit, harbour, keep, conceal, and deal with class B drugs with intent to evade import prohibition.
Each gang member was found with two suitcases, each containing 20kg of cannabis. Eight of the suitcases included Apple AirTags, all connected to the same Apple ID — a detail that tied the separate bags, and the people carrying them, to a single operation rather than a string of unconnected travellers.
Border Force officers became suspicious after linking the seizures to other passengers on connecting flights into Birmingham, leading them to fully staff the ‘nothing to declare’ customs channel. It was that decision — putting officers on a channel smugglers might expect to walk straight through — that brought the haul to light. The case is a reminder of why airport enforcement does not rely on intelligence alone: the busiest, quietest-looking route through arrivals can be the one that gets the closest attention when officers spot a pattern across flights.
Who has been sentenced
Five couriers have been sentenced so far:
- Gideon Oluwasetemi Olumoyegun, 26, of Dagenham — 24 months
- Ryan Boachie, 32, of Edmonton, north London — 24 months
- Claire McCullough, 36, of Wythenshawe, Greater Manchester — 26 months
- Jaden Ramen, 23, of Colliers Wood, south London — 32 months
- Paige Crisp, 25, of Malvern, Worcestershire — 30 months
Two more people are still to be sentenced on October 30: Tasia Nelson, 22, from Newquay, Cornwall, and Jamal Clarke, 22, from Walthamstow, London. Their cases have not yet concluded, and nothing in this report should be read as a sentence against either of them.
Paul Boniface, a senior investigating officer at the National Crime Agency (NCA), said: “These couriers are now facing time in prison and life-altering convictions that put future career and travel prospects in serious peril.”
“Their cases should serve as a warning to others that it’s not worth the risk, and the price paid is simply too high,” he added. “We are grateful to our partners at Border Force who discovered these drugs.”
“The NCA will continue to do all we can to stop drugs being smuggled into the UK and deprive criminal groups of profits.”
The warning carries a wider point for anyone tempted by a courier offer: the people carrying the bags are the ones who face prison and a criminal record, while the criminal groups behind the shipment stay out of sight. The AirTags in this case underline that too — tracking devices meant to keep tabs on the drugs ended up helping investigators connect the couriers to each other.
For Londoners, the case also shows how a plot that starts thousands of miles away can end in a courtroom much closer to home, with defendants from Dagenham, Edmonton, Colliers Wood and Walthamstow among those charged. The remaining court proceedings on October 30 will bring the cases of the last two defendants to a close.
More London crime and court news: a teenager was left with potentially life-changing injuries after a stabbing in Leyton, while two men were shot near O2 Academy Islington.
Image: Birmingham Airport (library photo, Wikimedia Commons).
