A drug mule mum who helped smuggle £13m worth of cannabis in 22 suitcases has been convicted.
Paige Crisp was one of a group of 11 Brits stopped by border force with 460kg worth of drugs found collectively in their luggage.
The 24-year-old alongside the rest of the gang had paid extra baggage charges to smuggle the 22 suitcases into the UK.
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A street value of £13.8m worth of the Class B drug was seized by the authorities, as reported by Need To Know.
Crisp, a mother of a four-year-old daughter, was convicted on 19 Aug.
She was convicted of attempting to carry, remove, deposit, harbour, keep, conceal and deal with Class B drugs with intent to evade prohibition on importing.
The gang were attempting to smuggle cannabis from Thailand.
The group of 11 travelled via Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris – before being arrested at Birmingham Airport on 9 Aug 2024.
Each member was detained with two large suitcases, holding 20kg of cannabis inside – the bags were so heavy an excess charge was paid at Bangkok Airport to put them in the hold.
The National Crime Agency revealed suspicions were raised when four passengers with two large suitcases each travelled from Birmingham to Charles de Gaulle that day.
The luggage had a thin layer of clothing on top of vacuum-packed cannabis and eight contained Apple AirTag trackers, all connected to the same Apple ID.
Crisp, from Malvern, Worcestershire, was part of the final three members to be convicted at Birmingham Crown Court.
She appeared alongside Tasia Nelson, 22, of Newquay, Cornwall, and Jaden Ramen, 23, of Merton, London.
The mother is set to be sentenced on 22 Oct, alongside Nelson and Ramen.
Other members of the 11 have also been convicted.
Carsten Kyei, 21, from Plaistow, London and Nathan Vitorino, 26, of Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, were both found guilty during a three-week trial on 26 May.
Bradley Lloyd, 27, of Wythenshawe, Greater Manchester, and Lewis Ross, 35, of Bolton, Lancashire, changed their plea to guilty during the same trial.
Claire McCullough, 36, of Wythenshawe, Greater Manchester; Ryan Boachie, 32, of Edmonton, London; Gideon Oluwasetemi Olumoyegun, 26, of Dagenham, London, and Jamal Clarke, 22, of Mile End, London, all pleaded guilty at a previous hearing.
Kyei, Vitorino, Boachie, Olumoyegun, Ross, Lloyd, and McCullough are set to be sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court on 3 Sep.
Clarke will feature at a pre-trial review on the same date, after facing further offences for failing to surrender to police.
The large-scale conviction is the latest in the NCA’s mission to crack down drug trafficking into the UK.
Paul Boniface, NCA senior investigating officer said: “A huge amount of planning went into this sophisticated attempt to bring hundreds of kilos of cannabis into the UK.
“The detailed coordinated of flights and luggage demonstrates the lengths criminals will go to in order to hide their offending.
“With thanks to Border Force, we were able to confiscate these drugs and stop criminals from benefitting financially from the damage they cause.
“Anyone who is approached to smuggle drugs into the UK should take this as a sign; you will not succeed, and if you try, you will face justice.”
Adam Chatfield, Head of Border Force Midlands Command, said: “These convictions should be a stark warning to anyone considering bringing cannabis into the UK.
“The young people involved now face a serious crime on their records, damaging their job prospects and life chances.
“More than ever, we are working closely with law enforcement partners in the UK and overseas to combat drug smuggling, keep our communities safe and our borders secure.”
Victoria Norman from the Crown Prosecution Service said: “Working with investigators, prosecutors pieced together a picture of a highly co-ordinated effort to smuggle industrial quantities of drugs into the country.
“Ultimately, this strong evidence led to six of the group pleading guilty, with the remainder convicted following a trial.
“The CPS is committed to working with the NCA to tackle organised crime and ensure that those involved with drug smuggling are brought to justice.”
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