Levi-April Whalley and Sophie Bannister were among 134 suspects arrested for smuggling a total of 5,609kg of cannabis into UK airports in 2023.

Although they were spared jail, law enforcement chiefs have warned travellers tempted to bring the drug into this country that they are likely to be imprisoned if caught.

Yet despite the risk of losing their freedom, the amount being brought into the country by drugs mules has increased ‘exponentially’, according to the National Crime Agency, dubbed Britain’s FBI.

Last year a staggering 26,924kg of cannabis was seized from around 750 smugglers flying into UK airports – a five-fold increase on the year before.

By comparison, as recently as 2022, the total seized was just 2kg.

In 2024, 430 suspects were arrested at Heathrow Airport where 14,617kg of cannabis was seized.

The next worst affected airports were Manchester, where around 135 arrests were made and 4,815kg of cannabis seized, and Birmingham, where 40 arrests were made and 1,410kg cannabis seized.

Of the suspects, 460 were arrested having arrived from Thailand, 108 arriving from Canada and 63 arriving from the USA.

Around 290 were UK citizens, with 162 Malaysians, 86 Canadians and 52 Americans arrested on suspicion of smuggling cannabis into the UK on commercial flights.

Those caught included Spanish national Fernando Mayans Fuster, 51.

He was caught at Manchester Airport with eight suitcases containing 158 kilos of cannabis after arriving on a flight from Los Angeles.

Fuster was later jailed for three years and four months.

Last month Alex Murray, NCA Director of threat leadership, said: ‘Organised crime groups make significant profits by trafficking and selling perceived high-quality cannabis legally grown in the USA, Canada and Thailand illegally in the UK.

‘Couriers run the risk of a potentially life-changing prison sentence.

‘We reissue our appeal to anyone who is asked to smuggle cannabis to think very carefully about the potential consequences of their actions, and the risks they run.

‘Organised criminals can be persuasive and offer to pay smugglers.

‘But as the numbers show, the risk of getting caught is very high, and simply isn’t worth it.’

Britain’s best-known drug mules are the ‘Peru Two’, Michaella McCollum and Melissa Reid.

They were arrested at Jorge Chavez International Airport in Lima after being caught smuggling £1.5million of cocaine hidden in food packets in 2013.

They were sentenced to six years and eight months in a notorious high-security prison, Ancon 2.

After serving less than half her sentence, Ms McCollum returned to Ireland where she has since written a book about her notoriety and featured in a five-part Netflix series.

Meanwhile Ms Reid, from Glasgow, has gone on to work for a charity helping drug users.