Pot luck: British dad’s £100k cannabis bust ends in jail sentence
A British dad of three has been sentenced to two years behind bars for an audacious attempt to smuggle nearly £100,000 (4.4 million baht) worth of cannabis from Thailand.
The 42 year old British man, gripped by grief and desperation after the death of his girlfriend, confessed he took the illicit gamble in hopes of using the cash to reunite with his estranged children.
Platt’s elaborate scheme unravelled upon landing at Manchester Airport, having flown in from a so-called holiday in Phuket. Enticed by the promise of £10,000 and a Thai getaway, his smuggling dreams ended when eagle-eyed Border Force officers intercepted him, recognising his hefty suitcase as a potential red flag.
When quizzed, Platt feebly claimed he had been “doing family stuff” and insisted his suitcase was packed with “mainly clothes.” However, his story fell apart faster than you can say “born in ’81” when he bungled the suitcase code, offering a four-digit year of birth for a lock that needed just three.
Officers forced open the suspicious luggage, unveiling a staggering 24 kilogrammes of cannabis, valued at £96,000 wholesale. Crestfallen, Platt was promptly arrested but remained tight-lipped about his mobile’s PIN, leaving investigators in the lurch.
In his defence, barrister Keira Shaw painted a picture of a man at the end of his tether, battling the demons of alcoholism and mental health issues after personal tragedies stripped him of his partner, his job, and his home. Shaw argued that the desperate dad saw the deal as a way to lay down roots closer to his children in Bury.
Judge John Potter didn’t mince his words as he delivered the damning verdict.
“You made the calamitous decision to agree with others to bring drugs into the UK in bulk. Mr Platt, you knew all along you were risking your liberty. You took a risk.”
Platt, residing on Skipton Old Road, Colne, admitted to one charge of being concerned in the fraudulent evasion of a prohibition on the importation of a class B drug.
Now, he faces the consequences of his ill-fated choice, a sobering reminder of the perils of drug smuggling.
Smuggling cannabis from Thailand to the UK is not a new phenomenon. Only five days ago, a down-and-out drug mule took a gamble to clear a debt to his mother and lost big-time at Manchester Airport.
Dean Pharoah, who owed cash to his mum, tried to smuggle over £200,000 (approximately 8 million baht) worth of cannabis into the UK after a holiday in Thailand. But UK Border Force officers had their suspicions and swooped as he passed through the Nothing to Declare channel, putting an end to his high-stakes plan.
Meanwhile, in another case, a British student’s high-flying ambitions came crashing down when his ill-fated bid to smuggle a suitcase brimming with cannabis from Thailand was thwarted. The desperate act was all in the name of funding his university education, a courtroom in Austria heard.
The 29 year old mature student, travelling with his 24 year old girlfriend, was nabbed during a layover in Vienna, en route to Amsterdam, carrying an astonishing 33 kilogrammes of cannabis. The haul, valued at nearly £350,000 (14.7 million baht), was uncovered by a sharp-eyed customs officer, prosecutors revealed to Korneuburg Regional Court.
According to Police Lieutenant General Phanurat Lukboon, Secretary-General of Thailand’s Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB), British citizens have reportedly been exploited as unwitting drug couriers, smuggling cannabis from Thailand back to the UK under the guise of a free holiday.
The British authorities have called on Thai police to clamp down on this burgeoning drug mule scheme.
Pol. Lt. Gen. Phanurat said the illicit operation was revealed following a visit from British ambassador Mark Gooding and officials from the UK’s National Crime Agency. The visiting delegation urged Thai authorities to aid in stopping the flow of cannabis into Britain.
