Man tried to bring £1m of cannabis through East Midlands Airport

The package from Los Angeles, California, was intercepted by Border Force officers at East Midlands Airport, Leicestershire, in November

Curtis Campbell was arrested when police searched an address in Sherwood (Nottinghamshire Police/PA)

A man who attempted to courier cannabis worth up to £1 million through a UK airport has been jailed.

Curtis Campbell attempted to move 260 bags of cannabis – weighing 153kg – in a parcel labelled “machinery for dry cleaning”, from Los Angeles, California.

But this was intercepted by Border Force officers at East Midlands Airport, Leicestershire, in November 2022.

Campbell, 31, was arrested when police searched an address in Sherwood, Nottingham, four days later.

He had been arrested the previous August after another parcel, sent from the US, was intercepted by Border Force officials at the Coventry International Hub last May, which had 530g of cannabis worth up to £4,500 inside.

At a hearing on February 21 at Nottingham Crown Court, Campbell, of Oulton Lodge, Top Valley, Nottingham, was jailed for four years and eight months for being concerned in the fraudulent evasion of a prohibition on the importation of a Class B drug.

The drugs were in a parcel labelled ‘machinery for dry cleaning' (Nottinghamshire Police)

Following the conviction, Detective Constable Ben Grayson of Nottinghamshire Police said: “These detailed investigations show how Nottinghamshire Police and its partners work tirelessly to prevent and combat this level of organised crime.

“I’m delighted our operations have resulted in a drug dealer being stopped in his tracks and brought to justice, as well as an extremely large quantity of drugs he intended for onward supply being taken off the streets, reducing the harm caused to others and stopping the funding of organised crime.

“We will continue to work to disrupt criminals who prey on the vulnerable and seek to profit from other people’s misery by selling illegal drugs which we know has a hugely detrimental impact on our communities.”