'Party animal' smuggled £220k of cannabis in bid to clear debt

A PARTY animal who racked up debts tried to smuggle cannabis through Manchester Airport in a failed bid to solve his financial problems.

- ANDREW BARDSLEY

George Samuels said he was offered £10,000 to carry two suitcases containing more than £200,000 of the class B drug into the country.

But the scheme failed and landed him in jail.

Samuels, 20, is now serving a 28-month prison sentence.

Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court heard Samuels was stopped by Border Force officers at terminal one of the airport on Sunday, May 12. He told officers that he’d travelled from Toronto in Canada, via Reykjavik in Iceland.

Samuels had two large suitcases, and told the officers that he’d packed them himself. Asked where the keys were to unlock the suitcases, Samuels said they were in a separate holdall, but no such keys were found.