Two years in prison for drug smuggler

A student caught smuggling £ 100,000 worth of drugs in to Paisley has been banged up in jail for two years.

Zixian Long, 21, was snared with a suitcase containing 10kg of cannabis at Glasgow Airport, returning from a holiday with her mum in Spain.

The art history student was stopped by Border Force officers, who found 10.1kg vacuum packed bags stuffed with herbal cannabis at Abbotsinch.

She denied importing drugs and being concerned in the supply of the Class- B substance, but was convicted after trial at Paisley Sheriff Court.

The jury found Long, who lives in Glasgow but stays in Edinburgh during term time, guilty of both charges by majority.

Her defence agent Maurice Smyth told the court Ms Long’s conviction for drug dealing was a “stamp of shame”.

He said: “It is impossible reconcile her background with the image of her being stopped for drug dealing within the blue channel by customs officers at Glasgow Airport.

“It is a horrific stamp of shame on her family, on herself and on her future. It is a conviction so destructive that she cannot have any possibility of recovering for the relief of her family. “

Her trial heard her mum had asked her if she wanted to go on a trip to Barcelona after being approached online by someone who offered to pay her trip if she brought luggage back.

She explained: “She [ my mum] said if I could bring this luggage back for them this time they would pay my trip.

“I wanted to do my mum a favour.

“I wasn’t thinking too much.” The trial also heard that when asked if she knew the three- digit code for the suitcase, Long gave Border Force officers the wrong code.

And, when asked about that in court, Long, an arts student at the University of Edinburgh, said: “It’s not my case.”

Sheriff Tom McCartney had remanded her in custody, for the preparation of background reports ahead of her sentencing.

Yesterday he told her had no alternative but to jail her given the gravity of her offence.

He said: “I have considered the terms of the Criminal Justice Social Work Report and I have listened carefully to what has been said on your behalf.

“However, having regard to the quantities, and potential values of the controlled drugs, I have considered no sentence other than a sentence of imprisonment is appropriate.”

He handed her two years behind bars, back-dated from December 13, when she was first remanded in custody following her conviction at trial.