Drugs mule mother-of-three smuggled £100,000 of hashish into the UK to fund remedies for her magnificence ‘obsession’

A drugs mule mother-of-three who smuggled £100,000 worth of cannabis into the UK to fund her treatments for her beauty ‘obsession’ has been jailed.   

Nicole Hutchinson, 25, was arrested after she and father-of-two Kia Underwood, 28, were stopped at Manchester Airport with two suitcases containing 48.75kg of cannabis having been on a seven day trip to Thailand.

It emerged she had been offered £10,000 to carry out the illicit assignment.

A court heard earlier inquiries had already led detectives from the National Crime Agency to a string of Snapchat messages from a male friend of Underwood’s who was also involved in the smuggling racket.

Two incriminating images taken on the friend’s mobile phone a day after he returned from Thailand showed a hand holding large wads of cash with a caption reading: ‘Not a bad week’s wage and free holiday expenses paid for included – that joy when you earn someone’s annual salary in a week.’

At Manchester Crown Court, Hutchinson from Allerton, Bradford, West Yorkshire, admitted drug smuggling but pleaded for a suspended sentence insisting she had acted under the direction of Underwood and another unnamed man and claimed she did it as she was £10,000 in debt with her electricity and Wi-Fi.

She was also claimed to have undiagnosed ADHD and suffered plus bouts of anxiety plus ‘impulsivity and restlessness’.  

Despite her dire financial circumstances, this apparently resulted in her splashing out on beauty treatments like lip filler, eyelash extensions and various hair colourings as she ‘was obsessed with how she looks’.

But in sentencing Judge Alan Conrad KC said: ‘These importation offences follow a similar pattern in the experience of this court. Couriers are approached with promises of luxurious comfortable holidays and significant financial reward for bringing the drugs back.

‘These suitcases contain drugs of potentially very high street value and such importations are very prevalent and are dealt with on a frequent basis in this court. It follows that in passing sentences in such cases as these, deterrence must play an important part.

‘Whilst I am satisfied Nicole Hutchinson he was acting under the direction of Kai Underwood and potentially of others, her agreed basis of plea showed she carried out the enterprise for a reward of £10,000. There was in any view a significant financial gain.’

Hutchinson repeatedly interrupted court proceedings and warned she would be removed after the hearing was told how customs officers stopped her and Underwood on March 17, 2025, as their plane landed in Manchester from Thailand via Doha.

Prosecutor Miss Tanya Elahiand said: ‘Hutchinson had been the lead passenger on the booking and had checked in two items of luggage at a total weight of 57 kg. 

‘She and Underwood each said they had not packed the suitcases themselves but that they did not know the name of the person who had packed the suitcases.

‘As Underwood’s suitcase was opened he said “I’ve been stitched up” and he was arrested. 

‘His suitcase contained 36 vacuum sealed packages containing a total of 24kg of cannabis. 

‘Hutchinson’s suitcase contained 30 vacuum sealed packages containing a total of 24.75kg cannabis.

‘Subsequent enquiries revealed that in the leadup to the flights, Underwood had offered to pay for Hutchinson’s new passport. 

‘Also Underwood was directing and guiding Hutchinson in the getting a new passport and was telling her what to say.

‘He spoke of speaking to “my guy” and to ask the “guy” what Hutchinson needed to say in order to get the new passport. He discussed getting them two separate rooms.’

As Hutchinson was led away to start a 23 months jail term, she burst into tears in the dock and yelled: ‘You f*****g b*****d’ at one of her accomplices. 

Police had already linked Underwood to another smuggling operation in which Brandon Loben, 27, was arrested in a sting operation at Manchester Airport in September 2024 following an Emirites flight from Bangkok via Dubai.

Initially, Loben got through customs with one of his suitcases but the other was delayed and it was subsequently searched by officers when it arrived 24 hours later and found to contain 14 packages of cannabis weighing 16.85 kg worth around £60,000.

He was detained when he answered a text message asking him to collect the case and then attended at the airport’s lost property department looking ‘nervous and avoidant’. 

Loben’s mobile phone was interrogated and Snapchat messages showed him communicating with Underwood about the second suitcase.

One message from Loben read: ‘What’s in that case. Will go get it but hope they don’t try gripping me.’ 

Underwood responded: ‘No worries bro, they’ll give it straight anyway man, just go in straight in lost property bit, they’ll give it straight away bro yeah.’

Police also found a video on Loben’s phone in which he bragged: ‘Why am I in Thailand, I live here now, I get paid f*****g 250 baht a day yeah to literally sit here like this yeah blasting, drinking tinnies and smoking joints.’

Online searches on the device showed the phrases: ‘For what reasons would airport search luggage’ and ‘do airline search inside lost luggage.’

In mitigation for Hutchinson who also admitted nine unrelated charges of assault on police, resisting arrest plus an offence of battery, her counsel Martin Sharpe said: ‘A report comments on her impulsivity and restlessness and referred to how she was obsessed with how she looks, and uses beauty treatments.

‘She was someone struggling with finances, approximately £10,000 in debt with electricity and Wi-Fi and impulsively accepted this opportunity which she saw to recoup £10,000.

‘A friend had approached asking if she wanted to earn money, he having engaged three times previously and not been arrested. o someone who behaves impulsively this was a carrot on a stick for her. We submit the defendant should be given a suspended sentence.’

Father of two Underwood, from Bradford, who admitted two charges of cannabis importation was jailed for three years and two months. 

Loben, 27, from Doncaster, admitted illegal importation and was jailed for 17 months.

Recent figures from the National Crime Agency showed the numbers of airline passengers caught smuggling cannabis into the UK had rocketed by 3,625% in just two years.

In 2022 there were as few as 20 air passengers arrested for attempting to import cannabis into the UK. 

But in 2023, it was 134 and in 2024, 745 airport passengers were arrested. In the first nine months of 2025, 680 air passengers were detained for cannabis smuggling.