A British woman has been arrested in Ghana after being accused of attempting to bring up to 18kg of cannabis into the UK.
The 23-year-old had been set to board a British Airways flight from Accra, Ghana, back to London‘s Gatwick Airport on May 18, when she was approached by officers as part of a ‘profiling exercise’, the Ghanaian Government has said.
Ghana’s Narcotic Control Commission (NACOC), a government agency, alleged that luggage checks revealed the young Brit had hidden 32 slabs of substances initially suspected to be a narcotic drug in two suitcases destined for London.
A later field test proved positive for cannabis, with the drug weighing 17.72kg in total.
She was arrested by officers at the airport and has been reportedly moved to the NACOC’s headquarters in Accra for further investigation.
The major drug bust also came on the same day that officers were said to have arrested three people, including a young 19-year-old British citizen, allegedly found to have been carrying 53kg of cannabis across two suitcases on a return flight from Dubai.
The young British citizen, along with two other suspects believed to have been assisting him, was identified and detained at the scene.
A British woman, 23 (pictured), has been arrested, accused of trying to bring nearly 18kg of cannabis into the UK on board a British Airways flight from Accra, Ghana, back to London’s Gatwick Airport on May 18, according to Ghana’s Narcotics Control Commission (NACOC)
The NACOC claimed that luggage checks revealed that the young Brit had hidden 32 slabs of substances suspected to be a narcotic drug in her suitcase, which later tested positive for cocaine
NACOC confirmed that a ‘further investigation is ongoing’, with the Commission adding: ‘NACCOC remains resolute and committed to the fight against drug trafficking usage in the country’.
UK authorities have worked closely with drugs control officials in Ghana to clamp down on the rising tide of smuggling in the past.
In September last year, four British men were found guilty of smuggling £4.3million worth of cannabis from Ghana into the UK, concealed in sacks of gari powder.
Daniel Yeboah, 54, Kristoffen Baidoo, 48, Kwaku Bonsu, 52 and Edward Adjei, 48, were all convicted for importing the class B drug following a three-week trial at Southwark Crown Court.
The drugs were illegally smuggled in a container that arrived at Tilbury Docks, Essex, on 19 December 2019. An investigation by the National Crime Agency (NCA) and Ghanaian Narcotics Control Commission uncovered 2,355 packages of cannabis hidden inside the Gari powder sacks, weighing up to 1.5 tonnes.
Yeboah was imprisoned for five years, Adjei for four years, Baidoo for 10 years, and Bonsu for seven years.
The Narcotics Control Commission (NACOC) confirmed that a ‘further investigation is ongoing’, with the Commission adding: ‘NACCOC remains resolute and committed to the fight against drug trafficking usage in the country’ (Pictured: the alleged suspect)
In 2022, four members of a Ghanaian smuggling ring were jailed for more than 28 years after trying to import almost £3mn worth of cocaine into Britain (Pictured: the 23-year-old suspect’s two suitcases alleged to have been filled with cocaine on May 18)
UK authorities have worked closely with drugs control officials in Ghana to clamp down on the rising tide of smuggling in the past
In 2022, four members of a Ghanaian smuggling ring were jailed for more than 28 years after trying to import almost £3mn worth of cocaine into Britain, following a National Crime Agency investigation.
Julius Tetteh Puplampu was intercepted by NCA officers at Heathrow Airport in August 2021, having flown in from Accra with six kilos of cocaine in his suitcase.
He was sentenced to six years and nine months in prison after pleading guilty to drug importation offences, as reported by the Evening Standard.
Puplampu had been in regular contact with Eric Appaih, also from Ghana, who was accused of trying to import 15kg of cocaine stashed in food boxes.
Appaih was sentenced to six years in prison, while two others associated with the ring were also arrested and handed down sentences of nine and six years for their involvement in the trade.
UK authorities have worked closely with drugs control officials in Ghana to clamp down on the rising tide of smuggling in the past.
In 2021, the National Crime Agency reported a smuggler who had used coconuts to hide almost 140kg herbal cannabis sent from Ghana had been jailed.
A general view of Accra, the capital city of Ghana, in 2018
File photo. Two men were arrested in Ghana, accused of trying to smuggle cocaine into Britain
UK Police have also reported witnessing an ‘exponential’ rise in so-called ‘cannabis couriers’ who are brazenly attempting to flood the UK with drugs hidden in luggage.
Footage released by NCA – Britain’s answer to the FBI – showed one female drug mule being apprehended after attempting to smuggle two suitcases full of cannabis into Heathrow.
Chelsea Allingham, a 40-year-old Canadian national, had just got to her hotel bar to enjoy a celebratory drink for her troubles when NCA officers swooped in and arrested her in May 2024. She was jailed for 10 months.
And in May 2024, 51-year-old Spanish national Fernando Mayans Fuster was caught at Manchester Airport with eight suitcases containing 158 kilos of the drug.
A huge haul of cannabis, bagged up after it was seized at Manchester Airport. Spanish national Fernando Mayans Fuster, 51, was stopped with eight suitcases containing 158 kilos of cannabis, after flying in from LA in May
He had arrived on a flight from Los Angeles and it is believed the haul is one of the largest passenger seizures of its kind at the airport.
Mr Mayans Fuster was jailed on July 19 for three years and four months.
Speaking in August 2024, Charles Yates, the NCA’s deputy director, said: ‘We’ve seen an exponential rise in people flying into the UK with cannabis stowed in their luggage [and] are rapidly seeing more people brazenly walk through airports with suitcases full of cannabis.
‘Subsequently, there has been a dramatic uptick in arrests for the importation of cannabis – already this year more than double those for the whole of 2023.’
The UK Foreign Office and British Airways were both contacted for comment.
