A 21-year-old British-Ghanaian man, Carsten Kyei, has been convicted for his role in a plot to smuggle cannabis worth £13.8 million into the UK through Birmingham Airport.
Kyei, from Newham in East London, was one of 11 couriers arrested by Border Force officers in August 2024 after the Class B drugs were discovered packed into 22 suitcases. The group had travelled from Thailand via Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport.
Birmingham Crown Court heard that each courier carried two large suitcases, each containing around 20kg of vacuum-packed cannabis hidden beneath a thin layer of clothing. The total haul weighed approximately 460kg. The bags were so heavy that the group had to pay excess baggage charges at Bangkok Airport to place them in the aircraft hold. Eight of the suitcases also contained Apple AirTags linked to the same Apple ID account.
Kyei and Nathan Vitorino, 26, from Welwyn Garden City, were convicted on 26 May 2026 following a three-week trial. Other members of the group either pleaded guilty or were found guilty at later hearings. The National Crime Agency (NCA) investigated the case.
NCA senior investigating officer Paul Boniface said a “huge amount of planning” went into the sophisticated attempt to bring hundreds of kilos of cannabis into the UK.
Kyei is due to be sentenced on 3 September, along with several other members of the group. The remaining defendants are scheduled for sentencing later.
The convictions form part of ongoing efforts by UK authorities to disrupt cannabis smuggling routes from Thailand, where production has increased following changes in local drug laws. The NCA has also launched a social media campaign warning young people of the risks of acting as drug couriers on such routes.
