Gang members jailed over plot to import cannabis worth £13.8m into UK

Four members of a drugs smuggling gang who were part of a plot to import cannabis worth £13.8m into the UK have been jailed.

The group members were arrested by Border Force officers in August 2024 when the class B drugs were found packed into 22 suitcases, sparking a National Crime Agency (NCA) investigation.

They arrived into the UK on the same flights from Thailand via Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport.

At Birmingham Crown Court on Monday, Bradley Lloyd, 27, from Wythenshawe, Greater Manchester, was sentenced to four years in prison, while Carsten Kyei, 21, from Newham, east London, was handed a two-and-a-half year term.

Lewis Ross, 35, from Bolton, Lancashire, and Nathan Vitorino, 26, from Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, were both imprisoned for two years and eight months.

The couriers each had two suitcases packed with 20 kilos of cannabis, amounting to 460 kilos in total, the court heard.

They had to pay an excess charge at Bangkok Airport to put them in the hold because they were so heavy.

Each suitcase had a thin layer of clothing covering the vacuum-packed cannabis, and eight contained Apple Air Tag trackers.

NCA investigators identified that these were connected to the same Apple ID account.

Border Force linked the seizures to other travellers using connecting flights into Birmingham, prompting them to fully staff the 'nothing to declare' customs green channel - resulting in the cannabis being found.

Kyei and Vitorino were convicted on 26 May following a three-week trial, while Ross and Lloyd changed their pleas to guilty during that trial.

Crisp, Nelson and Ramen were convicted on 19 August following a four-week trial.

McCullogh, Boachie, Olumoyegun and Clarke all pleaded guilty at previous hearings.

Another seven defendants are also due to be sentenced at the same court on 22 October.

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Gideon Oluwasetemi Olumoyegun, 26, from Dagenham, east London, Ryan Boachie, 32, from Edmonton, north London, Jamal Clarke, 22, from Walthamstow, north 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, were also convicted over the operation.

Paul Boniface, NCA senior investigating officer, 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."

The number of people trying to import cannabis to the UK has risen in recent years, the NCA said.

In 2024, 801 cannabis smugglers were caught arriving in the UK by plane - up 464% from 2023.

This figure jumped to 976 in 2025, and it is on track to rise again in 2026, with 600 air passenger couriers arrested from January to June, according to the latest figures.

The sentencings follow the launch of a new NCA social media campaign warning young people that smuggling cannabis from Thailand to the UK could land them in a foreign prison.

Brits caught smuggling the drug will have to pay huge new fines or face up to two years behind bars.

(c) Sky News 2026: Gang members jailed over plot to import cannabis worth £13.8m into UK