Anish Vij
A British woman has avoided jail time for trafficking 20kg of cannabis from Thailand.
Cameron Bradford, from Hertfordshire, was arrested after collecting her luggage at Munich Airport, on arrival from Bangkok on 22 April.
The mum, 24, was found with an excessive amount of marijuana in her suitcase, and told the court that she was working as an escort for a man who forced her to pick up a package for him.
Munich District Court heard that a regular client took a week's earnings off her, which lead to her being threatened by her boss. Bradford claimed that she was shouted at, and the only way to resolve the situation without being fired was to go to Thailand.
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When she tried to escape with her young son, she was threatened again, reports the BBC.
"I was really scared," she said. "I'm not a criminal. I don't know what I was doing."
Without knowing what would be in the suitcase, she left the UK and arrived in Phuket, Thailand, on 12 April, on tickets she claims were purchased by her boss.
After heading to Bangkok on the alleged instructions, she swapped a bag of clothes with a locked suitcase. Then, on her way back to the UK, the Stevenage resident was arrested in transit at Munich airport.
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Taking into account the circumstances, Bradford was given a two-year suspended sentence.
The judge accepted why Bradford didn't look in the suitcase and acknowledged that she was under a lot of pressure.
It comes after a number of men and women have been arrested on drug smuggling charges over recent months.
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Just days after British teenager Bella May Culley was arrested and charged with drug offences in Tbilisi, Georgia, 21-year-old Charlotte May Lee, from Surrey, was detained in Sri Lanka and was accused of attempting to import 46kg of synthetic drug 'kush' into the country.
OnlyFans model Clara Wilson, 36, was then arrested with 34kg of cannabis after flying from Bangkok, Thailand to Barcelona, Spain.
Jonathan Collyer, 38, Phineas Float, 31, and Lisa Stocker, 39, are also facing the death penalty in Indonesia after being accused of smuggling cocaine packets into Bali.
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As reported by The Sun, Police Lieutenant Colonel Arun Musikim, Deputy Inspector of the Surat Thani province police force, said that British nationals have been smuggling drugs, in particular cannabis, for a while.
“There is a lot of cannabis grown on Thailand’s islands in the south because the climate is suitable and it is legal. A lot of gangs are attracted to this,” he said.
“There are now various smuggling methods that we have seen. Some carry it themselves, some hire backpackers, and some send it via mail.
“This year, there have been many cases we have intercepted. Most involve British and Malaysian nationals.
“It’s easy for British citizens to travel as they can enter Thailand and return to the UK without needing a visa. Most of the smugglers are people hired to carry the cannabis, similar to how tourists might smuggle tax-free goods.
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“They’re usually unemployed individuals from the UK. The gangs offer them flights, pocket money and hotel stays, just to come and travel and take a bag back home with them.”