Brit's backpacking lie unravelled when airport cops checked her bag

A woman heading back from a trip in Thailand, claiming to be a backpacker, had her lie exposed right in front of her when the border force opened her gigantic suitcase to find 50 kilos of cannabis.

Lauren Martin of Worthing Street, Liverpool, made her way back from the Asian tourist destination to Manchester Airport on April 5, with her huge suitcase stuffed to the brim with 31 vacuum-sealed bags of the drugs.

Just moments before she was busted, Border Force asked what was in the surprisingly large bag, to which she claimed was just clothes.

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But the team at Manchester Airport were still sceptical and would go on to find the 49 kilos. Appearing at Manchester Crown Court, a judge blasted Martin, telling her: "I have no idea what possessed you."

Recounting her lies to the court, prosecutor Elizabeth Walker said: "She was arrested and interviewed, and told officers she went to Thailand for a week backpacking.

“She said she met two people in the hotel and went out to drink. One of them asked her to take some clothes back for their girlfriend. She said she was expecting to meet their partner at the airport, and didn’t check the cases as she felt it wasn’t right to do so.”

Martin's defence Betsy Hindle mitigated by saying her client had an electronically monitored curfew from 7pm to 7am and was receiving Universal Credit.

The Manchester Evening News reported that Judge Paul Lawton was less than impressed, adding: "You say there was no reward in it for you, I’m not convinced that is true. I accept you were naïve and pressured by others.”

“You need to understand how perilously close you came to going to prison. If this had been anything other than class B, you would have been going to prison for years and years.”

Pleading guilty to being concerned in the fraudulent evasion of aprohibition on the importation of a class B drug, the judge believed Martin was capable of rehabilitation. He handed her a year-long prison sentence suspended for two years, along with 100 hours of unpaid community service.

Martin had also been extremely lucky that her drug smuggling was found on the British side of her trip, with Thailand notorious for being tough on drug offences.

If found guilty of drug smuggling, people can be sentenced to life imprisonment and even given the death penalty depending on the amount and type of substances.

Jonathan Wheeler was issued a death sentence when he was caught smuggling 2kg of heroin worth £1m into Thailand in 1994 . He spoke to LBC about the rise in young Brits being targeted and groomed into becoming drug mules.

Mr Wheeler said these drug gangs can spot exactly when holiday makers are running short on cash and can soon target them.

He added: "People want more of that. The raves, the parties and all the rest of it. They want more of that. They [the gangs] are trying to be successful and make money to get another meal. They are trying to get you to do it again in the future.

"They will target vulnerable people. They'll see that they're down on their luck and they're offering the run. They don't want to come home, so they think 'yeah, I'll take the chance."