AS they flew out of Thailand, the 11 drug couriers bound for Birmingham Airport were part of a carefully planned operation aimed at raking in £13.8 million for organised criminals.
Dressed like holidaymakers returning home, the smugglers and those in the shadows seemed to have little fear of detection.
The couriers even paid excess at Bangkok Airport to put their cannabis-laden suitcases in the hold because they were so heavy.
One of the group posed for a photo with his two bulging suitcases, an additional holdall and reading material before departure.
Shown with his chin up, dressed in a crisp white shirt and shorts with a designer sling bag, Gideon Oluwasetemi Olumoyegun, 26, from Dagenham, struck a pose of confidence.
But UK Border Force officials had grown suspicious when four different travellers flew from Birmingham to Paris Charles de Gaulle on August 9, each with two large suitcases.
They moved into place to intercept the group of 11, which also included Paige Crisp, 24, from Broomhall near Worcester.
‘My man’s on the other side’
SMUGGLER: Gideon Olumoyegun displays his suitcases prior to his return flight (Image: National Crime Agency)
After touching down later that day, one of the couriers was told: “My man gonna be on the other side – don’t leave the airport until you see him leave.
“Even if your bags are there just let them go round on the belt, go toilet etc. etc.”
The plan appeared to be working as Bradley Lloyd, 27, from Wythenshawe, Greater Manchester, placed a friendly arm around fellow smuggler Lewis Ross, 35, from Bolton, Lancashire, at Birmingham Airport.
But as the group tried to leave they found the Nothing to Declare channel was fully staffed.
Border Force officers discovered the Class B drugs packed inside a total of 22 suitcases after the smugglers arrived on the same flights via Charles de Gaulle.
The couriers each had two suitcases containing 20 kilos of cannabis, which amounted to 460 kilos in total, Birmingham Crown Court heard this week.
Air tags
CONVICTED (from left): Ryan Boachie, Nathan Vitorino, Claire McCullough were caught at Birmingham Airport trying to import cannabis into the UK (Image: National Crime Agency)
Each piece of luggage had a thin layer of clothing above the vacuum-packed cannabis, and eight contained Apple Air Tag trackers.
Investigators at the National Crime Agency (NCA) linked these to the same Apple ID account.
After the final couriers were convicted over their roles in the large-scale drug importation this week, the question remains as to why such a huge amount was flown overseas in one go.
The answer is almost certainly connected to Thailand’s experiment with cannabis legalisation, which began in June 2022 before the drug became medical-use only last summer.
The number of Brits caught trying to smuggle consignments from Thailand into the UK has since risen and reports suggest it has become a runaway industry despite the new restrictions.
Ex-smuggler’s view
EVIDENCE: The drug courier gang was uncovered when they landed in the UK (Image: National Crime Agency, nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk)
Mark Dempsey, a former drug smuggler turned Harley Street counsellor, told the Worcester News: “Since Thailand decriminalised cannabis, criminals have been highly active in continually paying people to smuggle the drug into the UK.
“It’s typically 20 to 25 kilos per suitcase.
“Since the market has been opened up there are independent criminals, not like the old crime families, and they might put five or six people on one plane into the UK.
“They buy cannabis for say, £400 a kilo, when it’s £6,000 here, and they pay those people on the plane to take the risk.
“Border Force officials can only do so much unless the government puts much more money into catching these people.”
Mr Demsey, who has detailed his underworld life in a book entitled Nothing to Declare, made around 300 drug smuggling trips, including to the UK, before mending his ways and now helps others to overcome addiction.
“Generally, people know what they are signing up to,” he said.
“There may be a small degree of people with mental health issues, some may have been manipulated, and some may be young and vulnerable, but I’d say 95 per cent know what they are doing when they agree to take suitcases of drugs on flights.”
‘Over-confident’
HAUL: Carsten Kyei with his suitcases prior to his return flight to the UK (Image: National Crime Agency)
As to why 11 mainly young people would arrive on flights into the UK, their suitcases bulging with illicit cargo in such blatant fashion, the therapist has a simple answer.
“It’s just pure greed,” he said.
“The people who are controlling the market and organising and paying the couriers are getting away with it.
“When you keep on doing it you get over-confident, you get complacent, and eventually you get caught.”
NCA branch commander Kevin Broadhead has said that the “enormous amount” of drugs would have been “extremely profitable for organised crime gangs.”
‘Sophisticated attempt’
PLOT: Lewis Ross in conversation with Bradley Lloyd at Birmingham Airport – Lloyd places his arm around Ross’s shoulders (Image: National Crime Agency) (Image: National Crime Agency)
The group also includes Carsten Kyei, 21, from Newham, East London; Claire McCullough, 36, from Wythenshawe, Greater Manchester; Nathan Vitorino, 26, from Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire; Ryan Boachie, 32, from Edmonton, North London; Tasia Nelson, 22, from Newquay, Cornwall; Jaden Ramen, 23, from Colliers Wood, South London, and Jamal Clarke, 22, from Walthamstow, London.
Kyei and Vitorino were convicted on May 26, 2026 following a three-week trial, while Ross and Lloyd changed their pleas to guilty during that trial.
Crisp, Nelson and Ramen were convicted on Wednesday (August 19) following a four-week trial.
McCullogh, Boachie, Olumoyegun and Clarke all pleaded guilty at previous hearings.
Those convicted on Wednesday will be sentenced in October, and the others next month.
NCA senior investigating officer Paul Boniface said: “A huge amount of planning went into this sophisticated attempt to bring hundreds of kilos of cannabis into the UK.
“The detailed coordination of flights and luggage demonstrates the lengths criminals will go to in order to hide their offending.
“With thanks to Border Force, we were able confiscate these drugs and stop criminals from benefitting financially from the damage they cause.
“Anyone who is approached to smuggle drugs into the UK should take this as a sign; you will not succeed, and if you try, you will face justice.”