An American drug mule has been jailed for 17 months after taking 28 kilos of cannabis to Manchester Airport.
Chelsea Blanton, 29, had travelled from Texas to Saudi Arabia, before going from Malaysia to Manchester via Heathrow on May 7.
In her suitcase, officers found 15 vacuum sealed packages of cannabis in her two suitcases worth £80,000, Manchester Crown Court heard.
Blanton, a mum of one, told the court that she had been offered a ‘life-changing’ amount of $8,500 (£6,319) for the haul.
The court heard that when she was arrested, Blanton made a ‘false claim’ regarding her visit to the UK before later admitting drug smuggling when confronted with the cannabis.
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Jailing her, Judge Tom Gilbart said: ‘You took a gamble, it didn’t pay off. You now have to pay the consequences.
‘Speaking to the probation service, you confirmed you did this to make money. You took a risk; you said you would be paid $8,500.
‘There is no suggestion of intimidation or coercion. There was a degree of naivety on your part.’
The court heard she had no previous conviction in the United Kingdom, but had admitted to the probation service that she was imprisoned for assault in the United States.
Blanton said that she had suffered trauma following the violent death of her father and that she had been the victim of domestic violence in the past.
After hearing her statements, the judge added: ‘I accept you had genuine personal, health and financial difficulties. You have a good work ethic and have worked two jobs to support your family.
‘You have a 12-year-old child; he must pay the consequences for the decisions you have made. You described this opportunity as life-changing, and I accept that you would have received significant financial gain.’
Blanton, of no fixed abode, was jailed for 17 months, of which she will serve half in prison before she will be liable to deportation back to the United States.
One woman who secreted almost 100 pellets of cocaine inside her body and her bra showed Border Force officers pictures of the drugs on her phone when confronted.
Mother-of-four Larissa Lins, 27, was stopped at Manchester Airport after flying in from Brazil on August 24 last year.
She claimed she had come to the UK to ‘research nice places’ having previously flown through France and Portugal, Manchester Crown Court heard.
Denying she had brought anything illegal into the country, she voluntarily showed officers pictures of her time in France – scrolling past photos of the white pellets.
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