Woman caught with cannabis in suitcase at airport
BBCA woman caught with more than 16kg (35lbs) of cannabis in her suitcase at an airport has been given a suspended sentence.
Laura Banks, 44, was stopped by a UK Border Force officer at Newcastle Airport on 30 January after arriving from Thailand, the city's crown court heard.
Fifteen vacuum-sealed packages were found inside her purple suitcase, each containing about 1.1kg (2.4lbs) of the Class B drug, the court heard.
Banks, from London, was jailed for 18 months suspended for two years after admitting a drug smuggling charge.
Banks had returned to the UK from Bangkok when she was stopped at Newcastle Airport, prosecutor Matthew Hopkins said.
She told officers she was travelling alone and had packed the suitcase herself, but when asked for the combination to unlock it she said it was not her bag, the court heard.
Officers opened the case and found the drugs inside.
When asked what the bags contained, Banks said: "I don't know, it looks marijuana to me," the court was told.
She claimed the drugs had not been in her bag when it went on the plane in Thailand, although later made admissions, the court heard.
As part of her sentence, Banks, from New Malden, will have to work with the probation service to address her offending and complete 150 hours unpaid work.