A WOMAN from Northern Ireland has been jailed over an attempt to smuggle more than £1m worth of cannabis through Heathrow Airport.
On September 22 this year, 24-year-old Siobhan McAtavey arrived into the London airport on a flight from Bangkok via Doha.
She was detained after Border Force officers found 44kg of cannabis in baggage, which had an estimated British street value of £1.1m.
McAtavey, from Keady, Co. Armagh, was one of three people arrested that weekend over unconnected attempts to smuggle the drug through Heathrow.
On the same day McAtavey landed in London, Malaysian national Meu Chew Wong, 42, arrived from Bangkok via Bahrain.
He was arrested after 43kg of cannabis with a street value of £1.26m was found in his two suitcases.
Two days earlier, Raekelle Powell from Toronto arrived on a flight from the Canadian city.
The 22-year-old professional volleyball player was stopped after officers discovered approximately 19kg of the class B drug in a suitcase, with an estimated street value of £600,000.
When interviewed, Powell said she was paid $300 (Canadian) to carry the suitcase.
Sentences are ‘stark warning’
Following their arrests by Border Force officers, all three individuals were questioned by investigators from the National Crime Agency (NCA).
They were subsequently charged with smuggling class B drugs and pleaded guilty at court hearings.
At Isleworth Crown Court on Wednesday, McAtavey was sentenced to 20 months’ imprisonment.
At the same court last week, Powell was sentenced to 15 months’ imprisonment and Wong was sentenced to 16 months in prison.
“These sentences should act as a stark warning to anybody thinking of smuggling cannabis into the UK — you will be arrested, prosecuted and put into prison,” said NCA Senior Investigating Officer Piers Phillips.
“The gangs responsible for this trade have no concern for the fate of the couriers they employ to smuggle the drugs. All they care about is maximising profit and making their criminal enterprises viable.
“We continue to work with our partners at home, including Border Force, and those abroad to disrupt this trade and destroy the business model being used.”
Earlier thus year, the NCA warned travellers arriving into Britain from Thailand, Canada and the USA that they face jail sentences if caught attempting to smuggle cannabis into the country.
However, arrests are still being made and the amount of cannabis seized in Britain so far in 2024 is three times more than the whole of 2023.
The increase is fuelled by organised crime gangs who have access to cannabis grown overseas in locations where it is legal.
However, they are recruiting couriers to transport it to Britain, where it can generate greater profit for them than growing the drugs themselves.