Jail sentences for Heathrow drug smugglers
A WOMAN who helped smuggle £16million worth of drugs through Heathrow Airport with the help of British Airways baggage handlers has been jailed.
Felicia Kufuor was one of four couriers hired by an organised crime group to collect suitcases containing cocaine after arriving at Heathrow on an internal flight from other airports in the UK.
The conspiracy involved two British Airways baggage handlers, Joysen Jhurry, 41, and Mohammad Ali, 42, moving the drug-filled suitcases from an inbound flight from Brazil and placing them on baggage carousels for domestic arrivals.
The cases would then be picked up by the couriers, like Kufuor, 66, without having been through customs controls.
More than 100 kilos of cocaine and 44 kilos of cannabis were seized in an 18 month investigation into the operation, which was brought to an end in December 2016.
Kufuor was found guilty of conspiring to import cocaine in February 2018 and was sentenced at Southwark Crown Court on Wednesday October 10 to six years and three months in prison.
A further 11 members of the network were convicted of having varying roles and were sentenced to a total of over 139 years in April 2018.
Wilfred Owusu, 31, and Michael Sutherland, 48, who organised for the cocaine to be flown in from Brazil on at least six separate occasions, were both sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Baggage handlers Jhurry and Ali got 16 and 15 years respectively.
“Though she was lower in ranking in this criminal network’s hierarchy, Kufuor played a vital role in the conspiracy, Brendan Foreman, NCA regional head of investigations, said.
“The organisers relied heavily on her and the other couriers in order to distribute the drugs to dealers and thus profit from their illicit activity.
“Organised criminals involved in drug distribution are often also linked to violence, exploitation and gang culture meaning Kufuor played a part in a longer, more damaging chain.
“Border Force, airport authorities and the airline community were vital in helping us to stop this organised crime group in its tracks and pull together the evidence which lead to them all being sentenced to significant jail time.”
Border Force Heathrow director Nick Jariwalla added: “Border Force officers played a crucial role in this lengthy investigation, helping to bring these individuals to justice.