Four members of a drugs smuggling gang have been sentenced for their part in a plot to import cannabis worth £13.8 million into the United Kingdom through Birmingham Airport.
The National Crime Agency investigated the group after they were arrested by Border Force officers in August 2024. Officers found the class B drugs packed into 22 suitcases. The couriers had arrived on the same flights from Thailand via Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport.
Those sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court were Carsten Kyei, 21, from Newham, East London; Bradley Lloyd, 27, from Wythenshawe, Greater Manchester; Lewis Ross, 35, from Bolton, Lancashire; and Nathan Vitorino, 26, from Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire.
Gideon Oluwasetemi Olumoyegun, 26, from Dagenham; Ryan Boachie, 32, from Edmonton, North London; Jamal Clarke, 22, from Walthamstow, London; Claire McCullough, 36, from Wythenshawe, Greater Manchester; Jaden Ramen, 23, from Colliers Wood, South London; Paige Crisp, 24, from Broomhall, Worcester; and Tasia Nelson, 22, from Newquay, Cornwall, are due to be sentenced at the same court on 22 October.
The court heard that each courier carried two suitcases packed with 20 kilos of cannabis, amounting to 460 kilos in total. The bags were so heavy that the group had to pay an excess charge at Bangkok Airport to place them in the hold.
Each suitcase contained a thin layer of clothing above vacuum packed cannabis. Eight of the cases contained Apple AirTag trackers. Investigators found these were linked to the same Apple ID account.
Suspicions were raised when Border Force connected the seizures to other travellers using connecting flights into Birmingham. Officers then fully staffed the nothing to declare customs green channel, which led to the drugs being discovered.
One courier 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.”
Kyei and Vitorino were convicted on 26 May 2026 after a three week trial. Ross and Lloyd changed their pleas to guilty during that trial. Crisp, Nelson and Ramen were convicted on 19 August after a four week trial. McCullough, Boachie, Olumoyegun and Clarke pleaded guilty at earlier hearings.
On 21 September Lloyd was sentenced to four years in prison. Vitorino and Ross each received two years and eight months. Kyei was given two and a half years.
NCA senior investigating officer Paul Boniface said: “These sentences show that drugs couriers can end up paying a high price for smuggling cannabis to the UK. It is simply not worth the effort, something that social media influencers promoting this lifestyle frequently overlook. With the help of Border Force, we were able to intercept these drugs, deprive the criminal network behind the importation of considerable profits and protect the public from the damaging effects of cannabis.”
Adam Chatfield, Head of Border Force Midlands Command, said: “These convictions should be a stark warning to anyone considering bringing cannabis into the UK. The young people involved now have a serious crime on their records, damaging their job prospects and life chances. More than ever, we are working closely with law enforcement partners in the UK and overseas to combat drug smuggling, keep our communities safe and our borders secure.”
Victoria Norman from the Crown Prosecution Service said: “Working with investigators, prosecutors pieced together a picture of a highly co-ordinated effort to smuggle industrial quantities of drugs into the country. Ultimately, this strong evidence led to six of the group pleading guilty, with the remainder convicted following a trial. The CPS is committed to working with the NCA to tackle organised crime and ensure that those involved with drug smuggling are brought to justice.”
The number of people trying to bring cannabis into the UK has risen sharply in recent years. In 2024, 801 cannabis smugglers were caught arriving by plane, an increase of 464 per cent on 2023. The figure rose to 976 in 2025 and is on course to rise again in 2026, with 600 air passenger couriers arrested between January and June.
The sentences follow the launch of a new NCA social media campaign warning young people that smuggling cannabis from Thailand to the UK could result in a foreign jail term, after the Thai government announced a new fines regime. Films from the campaign are running on TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube and direct viewers to Crimestoppers, where they can learn about the risks of carrying drugs for crime gangs and report approaches anonymously.
By A.Ikechukwu
