A pair of mates who set off for a three-week jaunt to Thailand ended up facing police at Manchester Airport upon their homecoming.
Lewis Ellis and James Poutch headed to the Far East for festivities at the Water Festival in April, but their return was marred by a run-in with customs officials curious about the duo’s baggage.
Ellis, 20, candidly admitted: “I have cannabis in my bag, I may as well tell you because you’re going to see it.”
A whopping 37 kilos of cannabis packed in sealed plastic parcels were found in their luggage, reports Manchester Evening News.
Both men were handed suspended sentences, with the judge lambasting their ‘naïve and stupid’ actions. Prior to this, they had entered guilty pleas for their roles in attempting to circumvent the laws against importing class B substances.
The court heard from prosecutor Georgia Kennedy-Curnow that the young men were stopped at Manchester Airport after touching down from Bangkok, via Abu Dhabi. Officers first engaged Ellis who disclosed his three-week escapade with a mate from school, she continued.
An inspection revealed an astounding 19.83 kilos of cannabis in Ellis’s luggage.
Poutch followed in the interrogative spotlight, assuring that he had self-packed his bags and wasn’t minding them for anyone else.
His contribution to the haul? An additional 17.22 kilos.
“The defendant said he had lost his phone abroad and both defendants gave no comment in their interviews,” stated Ms Kennedy-Curnow.
Defence lawyer Simon Hustler, representing the pair, admitted candidly to the court: “The defendants would not seek to persuade the court that this was anything other than naked stupidity by two young men.
“Their families are in court today and are as livid as they were when they were before the lower court.”
Mr Hustler highlighted that for Ellis, with a history of eight previous convictions, it was practically a ‘last chance saloon’.
He further elaborated that the duo had funded their own trip with the intention to simply enjoy Thailand’s Water Festival, yet unsavoury associations there swayed them into becoming drug couriers.
Upon sentencing, Recorder Geoffrey Lowe emphasised: “You had an operational function in the chain, to courier these drugs into another country. This was naïve and stupid for both of you – you exposed yourselves to the risk of imprisonment.”
Bradford’s Poutch, residing at Fenby Gardens, received a suspended sentence of 16 months for two years.
Ellis, without a settled residence, faced an 18-month suspended term, also set over two years.
They were both mandated to complete 240 hours of community service and engage in 20 rehabilitation activity days.