Man flying from Bangkok faces drug smuggle charge

A man has been charged with attempting to smuggle £1m of cannabis from Thailand through Heathrow Airport.

Nathaniel Benson, 45, from Leeds, had flown in from Bangkok on Wednesday and was arrested after Border Force officers found 160 packages of the drug in suitcases, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said.

He appeared at Uxbridge Magistrates' Court earlier charged with importing class B drugs and was remanded in custody to appear at Isleworth Crown Court on 24 October.

A 41-year-old woman from Harrogate was also arrested but later bailed.

The NCA said more than 100 kilos of cannabis was recovered, which would have a street value of around £1m if sold in the UK.

In August, the NCA issued a warning to travellers arriving into the UK from Thailand, Canada and the United States that they faced jail sentences if caught attempting to bring cannabis into the country, after a huge upsurge in arrests.

The NCA said the amount of cannabis seized so far in 2024 was already more than three times that found in the whole of 2023.

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