An Edinburgh University art student has been jailed for two years for attempting to smuggle cannabis worth £100,000 into Scotland. Zixian Long, 21, was caught at Glasgow Airport on Hogmanay 2017 with 10kg of the drug hidden in her suitcase.
Long was returning from Barcelona when Border Force officers stopped her and discovered the shrink-wrapped drugs. She was convicted of being knowingly concerned in the fraudulent evasion of the prohibition on the importation of controlled drugs and of being concerned in the supplying of a controlled drug.
Detective Constable Alan Ferguson told the court the haul was worth £100,000 if broken down for street deals or £40,000 if bought wholesale. Long, who moved to the UK about 10 years ago, said through an interpreter that her mother had been approached online and offered a free trip if she brought luggage back from Barcelona.
Long explained that she and her mother visited tourist attractions in Barcelona before her mother asked her to bring a suitcase back, which was dropped off at their hotel by a Chinese man. She said, 'I wanted to do my mum a favour. I wasn't thinking too much.'
Defence solicitor Maurice Smyth said Long had no previous convictions and lived with her father, a doctor in Edinburgh. He described the conviction as 'an horrific stain on the character of her family and on herself,' and asked for a non-custodial sentence. However, Sheriff Tom McCartney ruled the case too serious, stating, 'Having regard to the quantity, the value and the potential value of the controlled drugs, I consider that no sentence other than a sentence of imprisonment is appropriate.'
