Three men have been arrested after eagle-eyed Aberdeen airport security staff uncovered a £1 million drugs haul hidden in baggage.
It is understood the trio left Bangkok on a Qatar Airways flight to Doha – the capital of Qatar – in the early hours of Friday December 20.
When they collected their boarding passes, the men allegedly checked in a total of six suitcases to go into the hold of the aircraft.
On arrival in Doha, the men transferred onto a flight to Heathrow Airport before connecting with a British Airways flight to Aberdeen.
The three men arrived in Dyce at around 10.30pm the same day.
As they tried to exit the airport, they were taken into an interview room – where officers specialising in tackling serious and organised crime were waiting.
A source told us the drugs were 150kg of cannabis, 25kg per case, with a valuation in the region of £1 million – the most ever recovered at the airport.
Must attend court
Police Scotland was not directly involved in the operation.
Instead, it was the National Crime Agency, which targets serious and organised crime across the UK.
The three men have not been charged with any offence and have instead been asked to attend court next month to find out more about the investigation.
An NCA spokeswoman said: “On Friday December 20 2024, three men aged 25, 25 and 19 were arrested at Aberdeen Airport by National Crime Agency officers, supported by Border Force.
“The arrests were in relation to the seizure of a significant quantity of drugs, believed to be cannabis.
“The men were released on an undertaking to attend Aberdeen Sheriff Court on January 16 2025.
“Enquiries are continuing.”
Why do people attempt drug runs?
When gangs can simply grow cannabis in the UK, it seems strange to fly halfway around the world with it.
Sometimes it can be down to distraction.
If a gang wants to smuggle a particular item out of an airport, they might try to overwhelm security systems with multiple packages at once.
So some packages are decoys and gangs know some people will be caught.
It’s a game of percentages.
But other such drug runs are down to a demand for particular strains of cannabis, which cannot be easily found elsewhere.
It is an expensive and seemingly risky operation.
However, gangs believe it’s worth growing cannabis in South East Asia and smuggling it into the UK due to the premium customers are willing to pay.
They often target a route whose last leg is a domestic flight because there are no passport checks on the last leg.
But airport security systems are so honed that it is almost impossible for these smuggling efforts to succeed.
How do authorities catch culprits?
When there are multiple legs on a smuggler’s journey, airport security has several opportunities to detect the drugs.
Sometimes, security at the first airport will pick up the case and let it through, knowing police are keeping tabs on it all the way until it’s collected.
Police will often decide to let the smugglers continue on their journey.
This allows officers to discover more about their movements and methods.
It can also reveal more to police about crime networks, if phone calls are made or messages sent in transit.
Why are some not remanded in custody?
This can be down to the need to carry out a detailed analysis of the packages recovered to establish exactly what they are and their street value.
Though the allegations against people in such cases are very serious, they are not being accused of any serious or violent crime.
As a result, a judgement is made that they do not pose any immediate threat to the safety of others and so do not need to be remanded in custody.
And the authorities will take a note of their address and contact details, so they can check on their whereabouts if needed.
In many cases, the passports of suspects are confiscated to avoid a flight risk.