Increase in legal cannabis production in US and Canada leading to surge in smuggling to UK
The total seized so far this year at airports in the UK—where cannabis is illegal to grow—is already three times that in 2023.
Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA) says there has been a huge increase in the amount of high-grade cannabis—grown legally in the United States, Canada, and Thailand—which has been brought to England by airline passengers on ordinary commercial flights.
It is illegal to grow, possess, distribute, or sell cannabis in the UK.
The NCA said Wednesday that so far 378 people have been arrested this year alone in connection with investigations into cannabis smuggling by air passengers.
An estimated 15 tonnes of cannabis has been detected and seized at UK airports so far this year, three times more than in the whole of 2023, and up from just two tonnes seized in 2022.
On Wednesday, the NCA revealed 184 of the arrests this year related to cannabis coming in from Thailand—which legalized cannabis in 2022—47 were related to the United States, and 75 were linked to Canada.
Ownership of and cultivation of cannabis for recreational use is legal in 24 U.S. states, including California, New York, and Washington.
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Kevin Sabet, president of U.S.-based advocacy group, Smart Approaches to Marijuana (SAM), told The Epoch Times, “In the States, we’ve seen an influx of marijuana grown in states with legal marijuana shipped and seized in states with no legal marijuana, so it is no surprise that this problem has been exported internationally.”
‘Significant Profits’
The NCA’s Director General of Threats James Babbage said in a statement, “Gangs can make significant profits by selling and smuggling perceived high-quality cannabis legally grown in the U.S., Canada, and Thailand illegally in the UK.”
He said couriers, who may have been unaware that possession of cannabis was still illegal in Britain, were “running the risk of a potentially life-changing prison sentence.”
Babbage said, “In some cases, it is unclear whether the mules knew what the potential penalties are, but in most cases, they were operating on behalf of organized criminal gangs.”
The NCA said drug couriers from the United States, Canada, and Thailand were recruited, paid in cash, and told that if they get caught, the most they risked was a fine.
But the maximum sentence for importing cannabis in the UK is 14 years in prison.
The NCA says 196 people have been convicted this year and sentenced to almost 188 years in total.
U.S. national Shawn Damari Ross, 29, was jailed for 20 months last month. He had flown from San Diego to Manchester, via Madrid, with a suitcase containing 36 kilos of cannabis with an estimated street value of $1,192,000 (£1,050,000).
Canadian national Colin O’Dowda, 27, brought a suitcase containing $474,000 (£400,000) worth of cannabis from Toronto to London Heathrow. He has pleaded guilty to illegal importation of a controlled drug but is yet to be sentenced.
The NCA said the drug mules were usually asked to bring between 15 and 40 kilos of vacuum-packed cannabis in their suitcases.
Courier Brought 158 Kilos
But Fernando Mayans Fuster, a 51-year-old Spaniard, was caught at Manchester Airport with eight suitcases containing 158 kilos of cannabis after arriving on a flight from Los Angeles in May this year.
In July, Mayans Fuster was jailed for three years and four months.
The NCA says organized crime gangs who have access to cannabis grown in locations where it is legal are recruiting couriers to transport it to the UK, where it can generate greater profits than cannabis grown illegally indoors.
Undated images of Canadian national Colin O’Dowda (L) and U.S. national Shawn Damari Ross (R) who were both arrested with suitcases full of cannabis after arriving at UK airports in Feb. and April 2024. National Crime Agency
But the quality of cannabis grown in these farms—which are usually empty, rented houses—is far lower than the drug when it is grown outdoors in places like Thailand, California, and British Columbia, which can command a price 10 times higher on the streets in Britain.
British government minister Seema Malhotra said, “Anyone caught bringing cannabis to the UK will face the full force of the law.”
Legalization Gives ‘Considerable Cover’
Sabet told The Epoch Times, “The state-by-state legalization of marijuana in the United States has given pot profiteers considerable cover to grow their operations and traffic their illicit drugs under the cover of the state-legal marketplace.”
A suitcase filled with vacuum-packed cannabis, found when a passenger arrived from Phuket, Thailand at Heathrow Airport in London, England on Feb. 14, 2024. National Crime Agency
“The legalization of marijuana has caused a direct impact on the growth of the marijuana industry and the technology they utilize to make marijuana as strong and addictive as possible. It’s no surprise that countries with legal marijuana industries have genetically modified these products to be stronger,” he added.
Sabet said, “Marijuana has been an abject failure in the United States, leading to more drugged driving crashes, more addiction, worse mental health outcomes, more hospitalizations, and poison control calls citing exposure to children. Canada has not fared any better. Thailand is planning to re-criminalize marijuana by the end of 2024, so it’s clear that things are not going well there.”
