Drug mule caught with £18,000 haul at airport
BBCA jobless drug mule was caught at an airport trying to smuggle £18,000 worth of illegal substances in his suitcase.
Somalian national Ahmed Hirsi, 46, garnered the attention of customs officers at Newcastle International Airport when he arrived on a flight from Dubai with a large amount of luggage, Newcastle Crown Court heard.
They found 61 kg of khat, an African plant which is a Class C drug in the UK with a street value of up to £18,390.
Hirsi, who has lived in the UK for 21 years, was jailed for eight months suspended for a year after admitting importing illicit drugs.
Hirsi landed in Newcastle on 11 October 2023 having started his journey in Johannesburg, the court heard.
He told border officials he had been holidaying in South Africa but they were suspicious of the large number of bags he had.
They discovered khat, which an expert said was a flowering plant native to Africa which, when consumed, can cause "excitement, loss of appetite and mild euphoria".
'You were recruited'
The court heard Hirsi, of Circular Road in Neasden, London had five children and a partner back in Somalia.
He was jobless and in receipt of about £36,000 a year in benefits due to having a hip injury, with the rent on his one-bedroom flat also paid for him, the court heard.
Recorder Thomas Moran said he did not believe the claims Hirsi had made to officers that the drugs were for personal use or that he did not know it was illegal in the UK.
"I'm in no doubt you were recruited to do this by somebody much more sophisticated than you," the judge told Hirsi, who was assisted in a court by a Somali interpreter.
Recorder Moran said criminals picked people like Hirsi who were "unemployed, in poor health and probably desperate for money".
Hirsi must also comply with a six month electronically-monitored curfew between 19:00 and 07:00 and was ordered to pay £150 prosecution costs.
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