Somalian drug mule caught with £18,000 haul at Newcastle airport
Hirsi landed in Newcastle on 11 October 2023 having started his journey in Johannesburg, the court heard.He told border officials he had been holidaying in South Africa but they were suspicious of the large number of bags he had.They discovered khat, which an expert said was a flowering plant native to Africa which, when consumed, can cause "excitement, loss of appetite and mild euphoria".
'You were recruited'
The court heard Hirsi, of Circular Road in Neasden, London had five children and a partner back in Somalia.He was jobless and in receipt of about £36,000 a year in benefits due to having a hip injury, with the rent on his one-bedroom flat also paid for him, the court heard.Recorder Thomas Moran said he did not believe the claims Hirsi had made to officers that the drugs were for personal use or that he did not know it was illegal in the UK."I'm in no doubt you were recruited to do this by somebody much more sophisticated than you," the judge told Hirsi, who was assisted in a court by a Somali interpreter.Recorder Moran said criminals picked people like Hirsi who were "unemployed, in poor health and probably desperate for money".Hirsi must also comply with a six month electronically-monitored curfew between 19:00 and 07:00 and was ordered to pay £150 prosecution costs.
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