A Spanish national who attempted to smuggle almost 160 kilos of cannabis worth £4.8m into the UK via Manchester Airport has been jailed. Fernando Jacobo Mayans Fuster was caught hiding some of the drugs in bags in suitcases coming in from the US.
Gangs are making huge profits by increasingly smuggling high-quality cannabis from America where it is grown legally, according to police. Mayans Fuster, from Zaragoza in Spain, arrived in Manchester on May 1 this year, having flown from Los Angeles in the US, via London Heathrow.
He was arrested after Border Force officers located 278 packages in eight separate bags. He had checked in three of the bags.
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Mayans Fuster was arrested by officers from the National Crime Agency (NCA) and he confirmed he had been in the USA for ten days, that he lived in Spain and a friend had given him the suitcases. He told them: “I’m in a lot of trouble.”
In total, just under 160 kilos of cannabis was recovered, with an estimated street value of £4.8m if sold in the UK.
After being interviewed by NCA investigators, Mayans Fuster was charged with importing class B drugs. He pleaded guilty at Stockport Magistrates’ Court on May 3 and was sentenced to three years and four months imprisonment at Minshull Street Crown Court.
Acting NCA Branch Commander Charles Lee said: “This was a significant amount of cannabis, one of the largest seizures of its kind at Manchester Airport. NCA officers work alongside our partners at Border Force to prevent drug smuggling and dismantle the criminal networks behind it.
The NCA points to an increase in arrests for cannabis trafficking at UK airports over the past couple of years. Gangs can make ‘significant profits’ by selling and smuggling high-quality cannabis legally grown in the USA, Canada and Thailand illegally in the UK, says the NCA.
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