£14m cannabis smuggling plot at Birmingham Airport undone by AirTags

A cannabis smuggling plot worth £13.8 million was exposed at Birmingham Airport after investigators discovered that Apple AirTags hidden in the couriers’ suitcases were all linked to the same account.

The 11-strong group were caught in August 2024 after Border Force officers discovered 460kg of cannabis concealed in 22 suitcases arriving from Thailand via Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport.

Five more members of the group were sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court on Thursday, October 22, following convictions and guilty pleas over the attempted importation of the Class B drug.

The gang’s mistake with the tracking devices was one of several details uncovered during the investigation by the National Crime Agency (NCA).

Eight of the suitcases contained Apple AirTags, which investigators found were all connected to the same Apple ID account.

But it was intelligence linking the passengers to other travellers using connecting flights into Birmingham that prompted Border Force officers to fully staff the airport’s “nothing to declare” customs channel.

Officers subsequently discovered the cannabis.

How the £14m cannabis plot worked

Each courier carried two suitcases, with each bag containing around 20kg of cannabis concealed beneath a thin layer of clothing.

The drugs had been vacuum-packed and hidden inside the luggage, which was so heavy that the couriers had to pay excess baggage charges at Bangkok Airport to put it in the hold.

The couriers had travelled from Thailand through Paris before arriving in Birmingham.

The court also heard how one member of the group had been told to wait for a contact at the airport rather than immediately collect their luggage and leave.

A message sent to the courier read: “my man gonna be on the other side – don’t leave the airport until you see him leave.

“Even if your bags are there just let them go round on the belt, go toilet etc. etc.”

The NCA investigated the group after the drugs were discovered by Border Force officers in August 2024.

Five more couriers jailed

Five defendants were sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court on Thursday, October 22.

Gideon Oluwasetemi Olumoyegun, from Dagenham, and Ryan Boachie, from Edmonton in north London, were each jailed for 24 months.

Claire McCullough, from Wythenshawe in Greater Manchester, was also jailed for 24 months, with a further two months to be served consecutively for an additional offence of assaulting a shop worker.

Jaden Ramen, from Colliers Wood in south London, was sentenced to 32 months in prison, while Paige Crisp, from Broomhall in Worcester, received a 30-month sentence.

Crisp, Ramen and Tasia Nelson were convicted on August 19 following a four-week trial. McCullough, Boachie, Olumoyegun and Jamal Clarke had previously pleaded guilty.

Nelson and Clarke are due to be sentenced on October 30.

Four other couriers involved in the same conspiracy were sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court on September 21.

Carsten Kyei was jailed for two-and-a-half years, Nathan Vitorino for two years and eight months, Lewis Ross for two years and eight months, and Bradley Lloyd for four years.

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

NCA warning over cannabis smuggling

NCA senior investigating officer Paul Boniface said the couriers faced prison sentences and convictions that could affect their future employment and travel prospects.

He said: “These couriers are now facing time in prison and life-altering convictions that put future career and travel prospects in serious peril.

“Their cases should serve as a warning to others that it's not worth the risk, and the price paid is simply too high.”

Boniface also thanked Border Force officers for discovering the drugs and said the NCA would continue working to prevent drugs being smuggled into the UK and deprive criminal groups of their profits.

The case comes amid a sharp increase in people attempting to smuggle cannabis into the UK by air.

Figures cited by the NCA show 801 cannabis couriers were caught arriving by plane in 2024, rising to 976 in 2025. A further 600 had been arrested between January and June 2026.

Two members of the group are due to be sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court on Friday, October 30.