UK'S DRUG MULE ALERT

NAIVE Britons are being lured into becoming drug mules with offers of free luxury holidays, bottomless booze and bundles of cash.

- BY DAN WARBURTON

Growing numbers of teenage travellers desperate for a taste of the glamorous lifestyles they see flaunted on social media are being targeted by manipulative kingpins.

And too many are blind to the risks, including life in hellhole prisons or even death sentences, warns a boss at the National Crime Agency.

We can reveal today that hundreds of smugglers have been snared at our airports this year - with Thailand's "wild weed west" fuelling the epidemic.

Stark figures show at least 800 smugglers were caught up to mid-November - an average of two mules every day.

It is significantly more than all of 2024, when 750 smugglers were nabbed.

Around 640 of those arrested were travelling from Thailand, where a relaxation of drug laws has sparked a boom in cannabis production.

As many of us begin to dream of escaping Britain for a place in the sun, Beki Wright, head of the NCA's Borders Threat Team, issued the stark warning: "Don't risk your life for a free holiday."

She said: "Couriers risk a potentially life-changing conviction and prison sentence and we continue to target them as part of our ongoing efforts to break the supply chain.

"Anyone who is tempted by a quick payday or free holiday in return for smuggling drugs, such as cannabis, the risks are huge and the chance of getting caught is very high.

"It just isn't worth it. The NCA works closely with law enforcement partners, such as Border Force at home, and those overseas to attack high-risk routes, seize drug shipments and disrupt the organised crime groups, hitting their profits."