YOUNG, flash and boasting jet-set lifestyles, they are the glamorous mules whose lives came quickly crashing down around them.
But after a string of high-profile busts that has left young Brits behind bars, experts say ruthless recruiters are purposely setting naïve drug smugglers up to fail as they concoct brazen new ways to outsmart authorities.
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So-called ‘brokers’ make enticing offers of between £5,000 and £10,000 per job, along with the lure of a luxurious holiday, but the risks are terrifying – especially given seven countries still carry the death penalty for smuggling.
It’s the promise of riches that lured the likes of Blackburn pals Sophie Bannister and nurse Levi-April Whalley, both 30, to attempt to bring £162,000 worth of cannabis into the UK from New York.
They admitted doing it “for a laugh and to help make ends meet”, never believing for a second they would get caught – and it’s becoming an all-too-familiar tale.
Months later Bella May Culley, 18, of Teesside, was arrested for trying to smuggle £200,000 worth of weed at a Georgian airport, while Charlotte May Lee was caught trafficking drugs 3,000 miles away. Both Brits had flown from Bangkok.
Meanwhile, flight attendant Lee, 21, from London, was apprehended in Sri Lanka with £1.2million worth of a synthetic cannabis strain called kush stashed in two suitcases.
While these unlikely-looking traffickers might draw little sympathy for getting caught, criminologist Dr Jennifer Fleetwood says such young travellers are little more than pawns in a game for cut-throat drug lords who are willing to sacrifice them like lambs.
Drawing on interviews with imprisoned drug mule recruiters and smugglers, she also tells The Sun why glamorous influencers are particular targets – and reveals the horrific conditions that await in foreign jails should they get caught.
“In the past the stereotypical drug mules used to be someone with brand new shoes, because they had a lot of money from smuggling and had spent it,” Dr Fleetwood explains.
“Now that’s a bit old fashioned, and instead recruiters are looking for people who may slip under the radar more easily.
“Social media influencers are one of those groups. Influencers regularly travel abroad for work, go to luxurious locations and are used to being in the limelight, so there’s an element of camouflage. They are easy to overlook.”
Sacrificed like lambs
Dr Fleetwood, a senior lecturer in criminology at the University of Greenwich, has used her research to pen two books – What We Talk About When We Talk About Crime, and Drug Mules: Women in the International Cocaine Trade.
She tells us the smuggling trade runs all year round but is particularly busy in summer to cater for substance-curious teens in holiday hotspots like Ibiza, as well as Christmas when some are stockpiling illegal drugs for the holidays.
Astonishingly, her interviews with recruiters revealed how they are using increasingly brutal tactics that include tipping off police or airport security about individuals carrying drugs – in the belief the others will get through.
“When I spoke to people involved in the drug trade, they called it a ‘dirty business’ and all of them knew ‘someone else’ who had done it, but insisted ‘I’d never do it myself’,” she says.
“I found that very interesting and it’s a simple tactic. Distract law enforcement and others will get through. It’s a well-known trick to hedge your bets of getting drugs through.
“Send three people with a kilo in the hope that two get through. The third is sacrificed and it’s only a small amount of drugs lost to law enforcement.”
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Jennifer encountered one such woman caught out in such a sting – a pharmacist, who got into the trade to fund nights out and had been in the trade for a long time.
She recalled: “The person wanted the drugs taken in a suitcase but the mule said, ‘No’ and decided to carry it on her body – in her bra, knickers and the seams of her clothes.
“When she arrived at the border they immediately went through her suitcase and were looking for something, she was like ‘What’s going on here?’
“Eventually they found the drugs and it wasn’t a ‘really small amount of cocaine’, around a kilogram, as they had previously agreed. It was heroin. That happens quite a lot.
“So even as somebody involved for a long time, who used drugs and was quite knowledgeable, still found herself in this position where she was basically set up.
“That’s why I always say never get involved because you don’t know if you’re the one who is supposed to get caught or get through.”
‘Smugglers, mules & investors’ – the main 3 drug trafficking ‘types’
There are three main types of people in the trade according to criminologist Dr Jennifer Fleetwood.
The ‘self smuggler’
- They tend to have a few grand to invest in drugs.
- They may hide 400grams of cocaine in a talcum powder bottle and are typically “low level” but knowledgeable about smuggling.
- They may be taking a trip for another reason and see an opportunity to make a bit of money on the side.
The ‘drug mule’
- They carry for someone else, and may stash anything from one to five kilograms and possibly more.
- They often don’t know what drug they are smuggling, nor have a decision on how to smuggle it.
- It may be on their person, hidden in the bodies or inside bags, suitcases or clothing.
- Some overlords turn drugs into things like plastic to avoid detection.
The ‘investor’
- They may be knowledgeable about the drugs trade but may also be a friend or family member with a few grand to spare.
- Five kilograms can cost between £80,000 and £100,000 so it’s a lot of money to raise.
- Some will be hands-off and rake in the profits; others will recruit
Unlikely smugglers
While many mules are younger, there’s a certain cohort of people with specific traits drug smuggler recruiters are looking for.
They are after people who “blend in, don’t arouse suspicion or set off any red flags”, Dr Fleetwood tells us, and it’s not who you might always think of.
Recruiters told her retirees were one because they are “beyond suspicion” and detection staff may think: “Why would someone who is a pensioner traffic drugs?”
Jennifer adds: “But actually, people on state pensions are on quite low incomes without much chance of changing that, so they may be tempted.”
An imprisoned mule she spoke to claimed being morbidly obese helped him to bypass security and he “used being really, really big to his advantage”.
Jennifer adds: “He said airport security generally wouldn’t search him or look at him too closely because we as a society have trained ourselves not to stare at bigger people.
“It’s an astute social observation really, knowing how you are seen, how those stereotypes work and how that affects others.”
Jennifer tells us that in years gone by, smuggling recruiters would also look for corruptible diplomats because their bags “couldn’t be searched” – or those carrying medical equipment.
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Frozen sharks & dodgy implants
Contrary to popular belief, Jennifer says the drug smuggling trade is “very old fashioned” and they typically use and re-use ploys from the past.
“Tactics go in and out of fashion, once customs get wise to one way they try to smuggle drugs, they change tactics, often reusing older techniques,” she adds.
In the past drugs have been concealed in everything from wigs to rugs, dreadlocks, frozen sharks, breast implants, charcoal, prosthetic limbs and Christmas toys.
And that’s not all; high-level crooks are utilising technology and have tried other sneaky tricks to bypass security in the past.
Send three people with a kilo in the hope that two get through. The third is sacrificed and it’s only a small amount of drugs lost to law enforcement.
Dr Fleetwood
“One guy told me he had access to technology that could turn drugs like cocaine into plastic and then that could be fashioned to look like a windsurfer’s sail.
“If stopped by security, it could be cut, have water poured over it and it would still look like plastic. I’ve also heard of drugs being processed as part of ceramics.
“Around 20 years ago they were concealing cocaine in dye pellets because the ink would conceal the drugs when they used a dipstick test.”
Jennifer says the dye prevented the test from working and it’s this type of tactic that highlights how it’s “a constant cat and mouse game” between smugglers and authorities.
Another cunning ploy, she recalls, is smugglers soaking drugs into clothes, which is “a really good method” because the individual carrying them “wouldn’t know about it so they wouldn’t get stressed out”.
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Prison starvation & deaths
After being arrested in another country for drug smuggling, the mules are in a highly vulnerable position.
They often don’t understand the language, the courts, the rules of the country, how the court system works and the reliability of legal aids, some of whom are looking to con them.
“People are taken advantage of by unscrupulous lawyers, who demand money for investigating or reports upfront and then leave them.
“Others say they can bribe the judges for $20,000 and then disappear after taking all of the money, which is hellish. There’s huge amounts of uncertainty.”
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Even things like phone calls can be “prohibitively expensive,” Jennifer explains, with many prisons charging “extortionate rates to make calls, especially overseas”.
While researching her book in Ecuador, Jennifer found people waiting up to three years for a trial and even after sentencing found it “lengthy and expensive” to get deported.
One trafficker she will never forget was an elderly British man with “terrible, terrible health problems”, who died in prison because he was denied access to medical care.
Frank, which is not his real name, was initially imprisoned for unsuccessfully trying to smuggle drugs into Peru but when he was let out on parole, he succumbed to the trade due to being left destitute.
“No one gave him his passport back, they kicked him out of the frontgate with no money, nowhere to go and no way to phone home,” Jennifer recalls.
“It’s a tragedy because if he had help, he wouldn’t have resorted to that again. He didn’t want to get back involved but it was the only option he felt he had.
“Frank was arrested and in prison for a really long time while he awaited trial and was trying to get deported, which is very difficult to do. His medical conditions worsened and subsequently, he died.
“Access to healthcare in foreign countries without an NHS-equivalent is really hard, unless you’re well off, and as a result people die abroad from the lack of medicare care.”
Jennifer remembers another man in an immigration detention, after being removed from prison, where no food was provided.
“Everyone there had family members bring food, but he had no family so I tried to see him twice a week to drop off money and food. I was a student so I didn’t have a lot of money myself.
“It’s madness. It’s the worst really, I wouldn’t wish it on anybody.”
Dr Jennifer Fleetwood’s books Drug Mules: Women In The International Cocaine Trade and What We Talk About When We Talk About Crime are available to buy online.
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