From drug mule to caught fool

WHAT makes an ordinary Brit decide to risk everything? Their jobs, their freedom, even their lives - and all for the promise of quick cash from gangsters they might never meet. It's a question that's coming up more and more often, every time a new suspected drug mule is arrested overseas. Last month, that included a flood of UK nationals in locations from Chile to Georgia. Here HARRY THOMPSON and MEG JORSH speak to drugs and addiction expert Harry Shapiro about the shocking trend...

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OF the Brits being held overseas on suspicion of drug smuggling, very few look like hardened criminals.

Many, like pregnant teen Bella May Culley, are young people from loving families.

But all are now facing an uncertain future.

In most countries a drug-trafficking conviction means decades in prison and in places like Indonesia, you could even be executed.

And to the ruthless criminals pulling the strings, you'd just be collateral damage.

According to author and drugs expert Harry Shapiro, narcotics gangs target the most vulner-able travellers.