'Will this take long?', man asks after going through 'nothing to declare' lane at Manchester Airport
Wembadive Onokoko aroused the suspicions of Border Force officers after arriving at Ringway on a flight from Thailand. After further investigation, the 21-year-old's suitcase was found to contain 15 kilos of cannabis, Manchester Crown Court heard.
'I don't know what it is, I only brought clothes,' he said after officers made the discovery. Prosecuting, Katherine Wright said Onokoko was spotted just after 7am on May 27 last year, after arriving at Manchester Airport on a flight from Thailand, via Doha.
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He was stopped by Border Force while he passed through the nothing to declare lane. Onokoko had a large black suitcase and a smaller holdall.
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When questioned by officers, he confirmed that the baggage belonged to him and that he had packed it. After being asked for the PIN code for the suitcase, he began looking on his phone but did not provide it.
Forcing it open, the officers discovered 25 vacuum sealed packages containing 15 kilos of cannabis. 'I don't know what it is, I only brought clothes,' he said.
After being told he was under arrest, Onokoko replied: 'Will this take long? I've only got six hours.' He was taken to Ashton police station to be interviewed, where he denied any knowledge of the cannabis.
Ms Wright said that in a pre-sentence report compiled by the probation service, Onokoko said he was 'trying to make quick money'.
Defending, Keith Jones said Onokoko found himself in a 'difficult situation he was unable to overcome'. 'He accepts now that his actions were unlawful, and of course he accepts he will have to be punished for those actions,' Mr Jones said.
'This isn't a situation he wants to find himself in again.' He said that Onokoko was a new dad at the time and was experiencing financial troubles. He had been offered £1,500 for the smuggling bid, the court was told.
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Mr Jones appealed for the judge to impose a suspended sentence, noting Onokoko had already spent about three months behind bars on remand.
Sentencing, Judge Neil Usher told the defendant: 'You felt under pressure to provide financially for your family. The irony is of course that you have let your family down enormously in choosing easy money and committing crime.'
The judge said he was able to pass a suspended prison sentence, noting that Onokoko's age, that he had expressed genuine remorse and that he was 'hard working' with a 'good work record'.
'In my judgement, it is possible to say, just, that this is an appropriate case to suspend the inevitable prison sentence,' the judge added.
Onokoko, of Wrythe Lane, Carshalton, Sutton, was sentenced to 20 months in prison, suspended for 18 months, after pleading guilty to one count of being concerned in the fraudulent evasion of a prohibition on the importation of a class B drug. He was ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work and five rehabilitation activity requirement days.
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