A young mother who tried to smuggle £285,000 worth of cannabis into the UK from Thailand has been spared jail after claiming traffickers would have murdered her child unless she agreed to be a drug mule.
Poppie Kudiersky was arrested after customs officers at Manchester Airport stopped a companion she had been travelling with and seized two suitcases containing 28.5kg of the drug.
When quizzed about the haul, the 22-year-old insisted she had ‘reluctantly’ agreed to go to Thailand to help facilitate a stolen credit card racket.
But she alleged that on arrival she was sent photographs of criminals outside her family home in Denton, Greater Manchester.
She was then presented with two suitcases containing 57 packages of cannabis and warned the house would be burnt down and her five-year-old son killed unless she smuggled them into Britain, she claimed.
During investigations, police found pictures of Kudiersky lounging around the beaches of Phuket in her bikini, sipping cocktails, riding a jetski and taking a boat trip to the Phi Phi islands.
One message on social media showed her sunbathing by a hotel swimming pool with the caption: ‘Blessed with the foreign skin that tans easily.’
At Manchester Crown Court, Kudiersky faced jail after she pleaded guilty to importing cannabis.
Poppie Kudiersky, 22, was arrested on arrival from Thailand after customs officers at Manchester Airports seized two suitcases containing 28.5kg of cannabis
Poppie Kudiersky, pictured during her ‘free holiday’ to Thailand, which she later claimed she accepted on the basis she would return with cases filled with clothing purchased with stolen credit cards
Kudiersky faced a prison sentence after she pleaded guilty to importing cannabis, but a judge agreed to suspend it after hearing she accepted the cases following threats to her young son
But she was given two years in prison suspended for two years despite figures showing the number of airline passengers caught smuggling cannabis into the UK has rocketed by 3,625 per cent in just two years.
Her male travelling companion, Dutch national Mohammed Jacfer, 26, who was living in Cheetham Hill, Manchester, was jailed for two years at an earlier hearing after admitting drug importation.
Drug traffickers caught in Thailand can face the death penalty.
The investigation began on February 2, 2024 when Kudiersky and Jacfer arrived at Manchester Airport on a flight from Thailand via Doha.
Philip Hall, prosecuting, said: ‘Both were seen on their respective phones before Kudiersky departed the luggage carousel with a trolley, upon which there were a number of pieces of luggage.
‘Jacfer was stopped by the customs officer, as he was going through the green customs channel with two suitcases and a rucksack.
‘He said he had been in Thailand for eight days and the customs officer asked: “Are these all your bags?”‘
The court heard Jacfer said ‘Should be’, but then looked at the cases and said: ‘Where’s the name on them?
Following her arrest for smuggling cannabis worth £285,000, police found pictures on Poppie Kudiersky’s phone of her lounging around the beaches of Phuket in her bikini, sipping cocktails, riding a jetski and taking a boat trip to the Phi Phi islands
Kudiersky pictured during her trip to Thailand, which led to her own mother quizzing her on how she was funding it, a court heard
‘No these aren’t my bags, mine must be out there. Can I go and look for them?’
The customs officer established the luggage tags of both cases were in the name of Poppie Kudiersky.
One was X-rayed and found to contain a total of 57 vacuum packages containing approximately 28.5kg of cannabis.
Three days later police attended Kudiersky’s home, arrested her and seized her mobile phone.
When cautioned, the court heard she replied: ‘His suitcase is gone. I’ve ripped the tag off it.’
Later she claimed: ‘I never had a choice.’
On her phone was a conversation with an unidentified person ‘in which accepted the cases seized from Jacfer were in her name and that he had been there for her when she had “meltdowns” when they were away,’ Mr Hall said.
‘That conversation became heated following the realisation that Jacfer had been arrested.’
Other messages made it clear that Kudiersky was ‘trying to get a free holiday’, the prosecutor added.
‘Pictures on her phone suggest that she took full advantage of hotels and beaches and her mother questioned how she was funding the holiday.
Kudiersky was spared jail and given a suspended prison sentence after a judge said she was taking an ‘exceptional course’ because the 22-year-old had attempted to smuggle the cannabis almost two years ago
Kudiersky said she was told ‘s***’s gonna happen’ if she did not agree to bring a suitcase she had been given in Thailand back to the UK
‘The defendant then goes on to say that “they” are turning on her and that she has to fly with some case.
‘She also says she was told “s***’s gonna happen” and that some threat was made towards her family.’
Kudiersky gave no comment in police interview.
But she later gave an accepted basis of plea in which she said she had reluctantly agreed to travel to Thailand and return with clothing that had been purchased with stolen credit cards.
However whilst there, she received two suitcases which did not contain any clothing and was instructed to transport them back to England.
She claimed she refused to transport the cases, but then received threats to herself and her family, including a photograph of people outside her mother’s address where her child was staying.
She was warned the address would be burnt down and her child killed unless she agreed to take the cases.
Her counsel Patrick Buckley said in mitigation: ‘It is accepted by all parties that she was subject to threats of violence both to her and her family.
‘We understand that there are complications in her life.’
In a statement the National Crime Agency said in 2022 there were as few as 20 air passengers arrested for attempting to import cannabis into the UK.
But in 2023, that rose to 134, and in 2024, 745 airport passengers were arrested.
In the first nine months of this year, 680 air passengers were detained.
The court heard Kudiersky had previous convictions for battery and possession of cannabis.
Sentencing her, Judge Hilary Manley ordered Kudiersky to complete 15 days of rehabilitation activity and 150 hours of unpaid work.
She said: ‘The NCA describes a continuing rise in this type of crime having a huge impact on the UK law enforcement agency and increasing demand on resources.
‘Because of the how this sort of offending has become much more common, and much more prevalent, it is very important for all people to understand that those people who allow themselves to get involved with importation of drugs in this way, will receive deterrent sentences of immediate imprisonment.
‘If this offence had been committed in more recent months, the sentence would have been one of immediate custody regardless of vulnerability and youth.
‘But because it occurred in early 2024 when the NCA were just beginning to see an increase, I can take a particularly exceptional course today.’
