Report British Tourists Charged with Smuggling £1m Cannabis After Thai Trip

[mikeymike100]

There is always someone trying to make an easy 'buck'.

When I worked in KSA years ago, many expats would take home to the UK a suitcase full of cigarettes, cos in Saudi they cost around $6-10 USD for 200, in the UK maybe 10 times that. If they were caught at customs they would only get confiscated, so no real loss!

But this 51Kg of Cannabis, they could get 5 years in Prison!

[nglodnig]

19 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

unwitting drug mules

"It's easy put these bags in your luggage it's perfectly safe" On a scale of one to ten how stupid would you need to be? "Unwitting"? More like mentally handicapped

[Bday Prang]

Something doesn't seem right about this whole issue to me , Is there really such a huge increase in people doing this or is just the way its being reported ? 

          I mean its purely coincidental of course that any proposed changes to cannabis regulations always seem to be accompanied by a heightened  media frenzy on the subject.  How many "multiple suitcase" would be smugglers have there actually been recently ?  I don't think its as many as it appears, sometimes the same occurrence can generate multiple threads.

[nickswift]

2 hours ago, Moonlover said:

Strange. I've read all the articles relating to this smuggling issue and this is the 1st time I've seen the word used. I had to Google it to find out what it meant.

 

Yes, I was at a loss for the wording they used, some reports suggested that the 'kush' was a synthetic cannabis think of 'spice' in the UK.  I really hope its not synthetic as that stuff is v.bad - I can only think that its a mistake on the reporting.  If they are making synthetic cannabis here, then its probably going to be in the golden triangle where they now make a lot of meth as ive been lead to believe from a recent news article (not just opium production anymore) - I just dont know what news article to believe and if it was normal cannabis, synthetic cannabis or just a poorly researched news article. 

 

[Bday Prang]

1 hour ago, nglodnig said:

"It's easy put these bags in your luggage it's perfectly safe" On a scale of one to ten how stupid would you need to be? "Unwitting"? More like mentally handicapped

How stupid indeed, its a question I keep trying to answer, Its actually amazing just how stupid some people can be , I mean unwanted pregnancies in so called developed countries being another perfect example. 

As somebody once said , once you realise how stupid the average person can be and then remember that half of the worlds population by definition is more stupid than that to one degree or another it all starts to become plausible

[Photoguy21]

4 hours ago, CecilM said:

If it's a trend, then the avg IQ of people in the UK must have dropped significantly.

Or the standard of living is so sh|t that people are desperate. 

From what people in the UK tell me it is a factor of both

[Bday Prang]

2 minutes ago, nickswift said:

 

Yes, I was at a loss for the wording they used, some reports suggested that the 'kush' was a synthetic cannabis think of 'spice' in the UK.  I really hope its not synthetic as that stuff is v.bad - I can only think that its a mistake on the reporting.  If they are making synthetic cannabis here, then its probably going to be in the golden triangle where they now make a lot of meth as ive been lead to believe from a recent news article (not just opium production anymore) - I just dont know what news article to believe and if it was normal cannabis, synthetic cannabis or just a poorly researched news article. 

 

Kush is a well known strain of cannabis that has been around for years, Anybody with any knowledge of cannabis would have heard of it. Probably best for you to do a bit more research and not to take too much notice of what you hear from the mainstream media.  Kush has nothing whatsoever to do with spice and any idiot suggesting otherwise should be ignored

[nickswift]

6 minutes ago, Bday Prang said:

Kush is a well known strain of cannabis that has been around for years, Anybody with any knowledge of cannabis would have heard of it. Probably best for you to do a bit more research and not to take too much notice of what you hear from the mainstream media.  Kush has nothing whatsoever to do with spice and any idiot suggesting otherwise should be ignored

 

[Briggsy]

4 hours ago, CecilM said:

If it's a trend, then the avg IQ of people in the UK must have dropped significantly.

Or the standard of living is so sh|t that people are desperate. 

Minimum wage in the UK is £12/hour. A huge swathe of the working population is on or just above this. After tax and NI, pension deductions, commuting costs, you will be very lucky to have £20,000 per annum left. That is subsistence survival in the UK. Rent, council tax and utilities on a small flat will eat up over half of that. 

 

If you have kids, you're screwed.

 

This doesn't excuse smuggling large amounts of cannabis but it does put it into context, particularly when considering the light sentences.

[Bday Prang]

16 minutes ago, nickswift said:

 

As I said nothing to do with cannabis, Its purely a coincidence that some African country has used the name "kush" as a slang for synthetic cannabis  I could not be bothered watching all the video , but no doubt the BBC failed to clarify that. The OP referred to high grade kush, There is no such thing as high grade spice, there is however high grade cannabis

In Russia there is a rather nasty "drug" called Crocodil  I can assure you that no crocodiles are involved in its manufacture

Nobody is smuggling synthetic cannabis to the UK as there is little demand other than amongst the homeless or in prisons

Anybody seeking cannabis would be far from happy if they were given spice

[Magictoad]

What is this nonsense about Kush? It's an area of the Himalayas! Famous for it hashish, opium and now Talban. It just a made up name that's been promoted by the DM and gutter press in general.

South London street dealers user the names Kush cos it sounds cool; innit?

It's Roadman talk.

[WHansen]

36 minutes ago, nickswift said:

 

An African country naming a synthetic drug Kush, nothing to do with herbal Kush.

From Wikipedia...

Kush generally refers to a pure or hybrid Cannabis indica strain. Pure C. indica strains include Afghan Kush, Hindu Kush, Green Kush, and Purple Kush.

[nickswift]

 guys, if you dont want to believe that they make synthetic cannabis in thailand thats fine.  However, its been stated in the OP that....

The notorious Golden Triangle, where Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar meet, has emerged as the world's preeminent hub for opium and synthetic drug production. With production levels surpassing even Afghanistan's opium output, the area remains a focal point for trafficking operations that increasingly implicate unwary travellers.

 

Don't shoot the messenger!

 

There was just lots of confusion about why they are saying Kush and Cannabis.... why not just say cannabis if its all cannabis?

[Rolo89]

How stupid do you have to be?

 

Everything gets scanned thesedays and advanced AI now deployed at places like Heathrow to automatically detect the cases that need to be searched. It's not the 90s anymore

[captain_shane]

6 hours ago, blaze master said:

 

How did they know it was kush ? Maybe it was girl scout cookies

 

Even if it's the highest grade kush on earth, it ain't worth 19,607 per kilo.

[VBF]

5 hours ago, sikishrory said:

English tourist.

Cannabis smuggling.

A new trend emerges.

Not that new - I knew someone in the eighties who smuggled various drugs into UK - he ended up in the "Bangkok Hilton" for many years. He wanted to involve me in his "business enterprise" - I ran a mile!

 

A "British couple from Salford" who presumably were schooled in UK with access to UK media should realise that, as has been said, times have moved on and the likelihood of being caught has vastly increased.

They're just morons - sadly I and my fellow taxpayers will be supporting their route to justice. I actually wish they'd been caught and punished in Thailand.

[blaze master]

8 hours ago, Quentin Zen said:

designed by 10,000 PhD's

 

Sounds like you've been at the kuah yourself. 

[1sickpuppy]

23 hours ago, Woke to Sounds said:

It's those damned drugs again.

 

I wonder how many children they've killed with this shhhiiiiiiiit!!

Alcohol kills way more i doubt anybody has died from smoking pot DH--d

[Pompeygeezer]

On 6/10/2025 at 10:55 AM, snoop1130 said:

Operations Director at The EyeWitness Project, points to a troubling trend where criminal gangs exploit naive Western tourists

I think it's the EyeWitness Project who are naive to think the tourists getting involved are naive.  they know what they're doing.   It boils down to one thing GREED!!    no naivety involved whatsoever.   

[Bday Prang]

On 6/11/2025 at 2:31 PM, nickswift said:

 guys, if you dont want to believe that they make synthetic cannabis in thailand thats fine.  However, its been stated in the OP that....

The notorious Golden Triangle, where Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar meet, has emerged as the world's preeminent hub for opium and synthetic drug production. With production levels surpassing even Afghanistan's opium output, the area remains a focal point for trafficking operations that increasingly implicate unwary travellers.

 

Don't shoot the messenger!

 

There was just lots of confusion about why they are saying Kush and Cannabis.... why not just say cannabis if its all cannabis?

It does not specify synthetic cannabis, more than likely refers to fentanyl or similar synthetic opioid