A British beautician accused of smuggling £15million worth of cocaine in her suitcases has claimed she believed she was carrying two bags of ‘cash’ to the UK from Mexico.
Kim Hall, 28, from Middlesbrough, was stopped at Chicago‘s O’Hare airport as she prepared to board a connecting flight to Manchester on August 18.
Homeland Security investigators found 43kg of cocaine packed in two suitcases before detaining the young woman.
Now facing 60 years in a US jail, Ms Hall claims she agreed to bring two suitcases home for a pair of British men under the belief the bags contained only cash.
She insists she was forced to carry the bags at gunpoint, after being offered the free holiday to Mexico by the two men she befriended on an earlier break to Portugal – who said they had real estate interests in Central America.
Additionally, Ms Hall claimed her psychiatrist believes she was in the middle of a manic episode when she agreed to carry the suitcases.
Kim Hall, 28, (pictured) is accused of smuggling £15million worth of cocaine in her suitcases
Ms Hall claims she agreed to bring two suitcases home for a pair of British men under the belief the bags contained only cash
Speaking to The Sun, Ms Hall said: ‘I’m not a bad person. I’ve never been in trouble in my life and I’m not guilty of what they are accusing me of.
‘They held a gun to my head and threatened to shoot me.’
When her week-long trip to Cancun was coming to an end, Ms Hall claimed the men asked her to take two suitcases back with her, which they said contained $250,000 in cash.
‘I agreed to it because there was no reason not to. It was just money and I didn’t see anything wrong in it,’ she said.
The beautician claimed she missed her flight due to a mix up with timings, after which point one of the men held a gun to her head and threatened her.
‘I was screaming at them to let me go. I thought, I’m going to end up dead if I don’t carry this money,’ she said.
When Ms Hall finally caught a flight home, she landed at Chicago’s O’Hare airport for a connection to London, which is when officials carried out a random bag check as they were suspicious of her having two suitcases.
Ms Hall also claimed her psychiatrist believes she was in the middle of a manic episode when she agreed to carry the suitcases
An aerial of Chicago O’Hare International Airport, where Ms Hall was searched and detained
Cook County Jail in South Lawndale, a Chicago community on the West Side
Kim is pictured with her mother Tracy. Kim’s parents have both insisted she is innocent
The young woman collapsed in tears as she was handcuffed and taken to prison.
Ms Hall is now on house arrest and is only allowed out two days a week, with two electronic tags attached to her.
Her father John Hall, 59, previously defended his daughter, saying all she is guilty of is ‘stupidity and naivety’.
He told the Sun: ‘She’s not a drug smuggler. She was told that it would be money she was carrying.
‘They got her phone and threatened her family and that’s why she did it.
‘She’d been to Portugal with a friend and met people over there who contacted her when she was back saying they were into real estate in Mexico and she could go for a free holiday.’
He added that she is ‘petrified’ after telling him that ‘you don’t understand what they were threatening me with’.
After her arrest in August, Ms Hall was charged with unlawful possession of a controlled substance and possession with intent to deliver after her arrest in August.
Due to the amount of drugs seized, the offence is in the top bracket for sentencing, with Class X Felony which carries 15-60 years in prison.