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British drug mules from Thailand offer varied smuggling explanations
Suitcases are now the most popular way of transporting illegal goods.
Britain’s National Crime Agency says that almost two thirds of 750 recent international drugs arrests had some connection with Thailand. Most of the substances were in checked baggage, probably because scans and x-rays at international airports tend to concentrate more on the passenger’s person and hand luggage rather than on suitcases, according to Border Force director general Phil Douglas.
One of the most common features of drugs air smuggling from Thailand is the specific packaging. Vacuum packing was a feature of drugs concealment in the arrest of Bella Culley (in Georgia) and of Charlotte Lee May (in Sri Lanka) both travelling alone from Suvarnabhumi to UK by indirect routes. Bella unusually claimed she was tortured by a gang into agreeing to be a mule, whereas Charlotte has told police the 46 contraband kilos were “planted” in her suitcase. Neither young woman has yet been tried for any crime.
Professional packaging is a hallmark of gangs using drug mules. In July 2025 a Brit, Robert Brown, was arrested at Cambodia’s Phnom Penh airport with cannabis in 22 packs. Police believe the cannabis originated in Thailand and was likely packed there before ending up, somehow, in the defendant’s luggage. Another Brit Clara Wilson flew from Thailand with 60 vacuum-packed packages of cannabis before being arrested in Barcelona. Both have apparently denied packing their own cases prior to travelling.
But there also other clues. In June 2025 two Malaysian nationals who flew from Malaga to Belfast were sentenced to 21 months in prison after ground crew in Northern Ireland noticed a strong smell of cannabis coming from a suitcase. They said they had met a man in Malaga who had given them two suitcases which they thought contained edible birds’ nests. The average street value of each British-orientated case in the last year was 200,000 pounds sterling per arrest.
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People’s motives for trafficking drugs are varied from being in debt, wanting easy cash or the risk to make a wanted change in their lives. Criminologist Jennifer Fleetwood says the job of a drug mule is characterized by exploitation rather than by choice. But different authors have argued that some mules are fully streetwise, whilst others are naive and influenced by contacts who tell them there is no real enforcement at international airports or that they won’t be breaking any laws anyway.
Separately, questions have been asked why more drug mules are not stopped at Thai airports rather than at a subsequent destination. The Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand says that checks on travellers and their luggage meet all international standards. Moreover AI is playing a growing role in using colours, shapes and patterns in suitcase contents to pinpoint anomalies and to predict potential crime.
Yet problems occur at any and all airports in the world. There are factors such as screener fatigue and boredom, false alarms, limited penetration of dense materials, subjective dependence on image interpretation, heavy financial investment, shortage of staff and even overstuffed bags which can obscure potentially illegal contents. Ten years ago, the US inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security reported that screening checkpoints at airports identified only about 10 percent of potentially dangerous items. There hasn’t been an update since.
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