Drug smuggler admits most of his cannabis couriers get caught | BBC News — Transcript

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1. 0:01Cali weed has become one of the most
2. 0:02sought-after drugs on Britain's streets.
3. 0:05But I've been investigating the craze
4. 0:07and turns out much of it may not be
5. 0:09Californian at all.
6. 0:11This is Z.
7. 0:12Not his real name.
8. 0:17He's one of a growing army of dealers
9. 0:18cultivating in countries where laws have
10. 0:20been relaxed. He agreed to talk at an
11. 0:23undisclosed location after I was
12. 0:24introduced by a source close to the UK
13. 0:27drugs trade.
14. 0:30Z operates in Thailand where
15. 0:32legalization prompted a free-wheeling
16. 0:34market and major interest from gangs in
17. 0:37Liverpool and Manchester.
18. 0:46Z recruits local growers to cultivate
19. 0:48seeds he buys from legal dispensaries in
20. 0:50California, growing it on the cheap in
21. 0:53unlicensed conditions to mimic the
22. 0:55sought-after Cali strains.
23. 1:02He shows me astonishing pictures of what
24. 1:04he says is his latest yield. Vacuum
25. 1:06packed and ready to be smuggled out of
26. 1:08Thailand.
27. 1:09He says 100 kilos landed in the UK
28. 1:12before Christmas, fetching more than a
29. 1:14quarter of a million.
30. 1:21Z recruits couriers to smuggle the drug
31. 1:23into the UK, paying them 10,000 pounds
32. 1:25to take suitcases packed with up to 40
33. 1:28kilos.
34. 1:42>> Is that not then just
35. 1:44coercive control and that manipulating
36. 1:47them?
37. 1:55>> they had.
38. 1:56Last year British border officials
39. 1:57seized 167 tons of herbal cannabis with
40. 2:01an estimated street value of 2 billion,
41. 2:04the highest number on record.
42. 2:06The haul includes 28 tons flown in
43. 2:08suitcases by 800 couriers arrested by
44. 2:11the National Crime Agency.
45. 2:14This courier told me he brought back
46. 2:15cases to pay off a drugs debt.
47. 2:18He said he'd got through six times.
48. 2:20>> Yeah, yeah.
49. 2:20>> Did you not feel that you were being
50. 2:22exploited?
51. 2:23>> No, no. No, it was a choice I made.
52. 2:26[snorts]
53. 2:26>> What are you feeling when you're walking
54. 2:28through that airport?
55. 2:29>> It's It's stressful.
56. 2:31You know, you wondering if there's
57. 2:32anybody seeing me.
58. 2:33I was just thankful for it when it was
59. 2:35all over.
60. 2:36>> Every courier is serving a big industry
61. 2:40that's uh run by ruthless criminals
62. 2:43um who enforce their business model
63. 2:45through violence. And that violence has
64. 2:47a has a very real
65. 2:49sort of presence in communities in in in
66. 2:52the UK, up and down the country.
67. 2:55>> Tightened security at airports has left
68. 2:57traffickers looking for alternative
69. 2:59smuggling methods, with gangs shipping
70. 3:01it over hidden in cargo.
71. 3:04Z says he used popcorn cans to send
72. 3:06packages to Manchester.
73. 3:08He's even used the post.
74. 3:11Once these product lands in the UK, it's
75. 3:13placed in shiny packaging to make it
76. 3:15look like it's a premium Californian
77. 3:17import.
78. 3:19What would you say to people who say
79. 3:20cannabis is a is a harmful drug?
80. 3:23This Cali product that you're bringing
81. 3:24in
82. 3:26could impact someone's life.
83. 3:28>> Nobody could even prove it, nobody.
84. 3:31He's got depression, anxiety.
85. 3:33Huh, he can't eat. It improves his
86. 3:35appetite. He's not sleeping, it's
87. 3:37improving his sleep.
88. 3:39Yeah.
89. 3:39I beg to differ.
90. 3:41>> But health experts are on high alert.
91. 3:44>> I'm very concerned about the strain of
92. 3:46the cannabis available uh right now.
93. 3:48>> Psychiatrist Dr. Marta Di Forti led the
94. 3:51UK's biggest study on cannabis and
95. 3:53psychosis.
96. 3:54>> So, the greatest risk is associated with
97. 3:57a significant increase, which goes to up
98. 4:00to ninefold in the chance of developing
99. 4:03a clinical psychotic disorder.
100. 4:05>> What have you seen in terms of examples
101. 4:07of things that have happened that would
102. 4:09indicate to you that to you that's a
103. 4:10psychotic episode?
104. 4:11>> Predominantly driven by paranoia. So,
105. 4:14people might also hear voices that
106. 4:16nobody else can hear, but the content of
107. 4:18these voices would be aligned with the
108. 4:20fear of being under threat or people
109. 4:22wanting to harm them or people spying on
110. 4:24them. And then we are beginning to
111. 4:26unlock also potential risk for general
112. 4:29physical health. Uh so, for instance,
113. 4:31there is something called skromiting.
114. 4:34>> Skromiting?
115. 4:35>> between screaming and vomiting. So,
116. 4:38we're beginning to understand that when
117. 4:40you really go beyond a certain
118. 4:42concentration of THC, the risk to health
119. 4:45are not just the one we already knew
120. 4:47about.
121. 4:49>> A smoker and former grower from
122. 4:51Liverpool showed us Cali packs. He said
123. 4:53dealers used to fool buyers into
124. 4:55thinking the product is the real deal.
125. 4:57But said they contained cheap and
126. 4:59potentially toxic imitations of the
127. 5:01product grown in licensed dispensaries
128. 5:03in the US.
129. 5:04>> There's two examples there of where I've
130. 5:06been burned.
131. 5:07Sold as Cali and then they're blatantly
132. 5:08not.
133. 5:09One of them looks to me like Thai smoke,
134. 5:11where it's got the look and appearance
135. 5:12of Cali with the dense buds, but it's
136. 5:15definitely not.
137. 5:16Thing is, young people have been drawn
138. 5:18into this craze for the Zana weed, but
139. 5:20they don't know what they're smoking.
140. 5:21And I believe that's got a massive
141. 5:22impact on what we're seeing today with
142. 5:24mental health and psychosis.
143. 5:26>> And have you had any any issues
144. 5:28yourself?
145. 5:28>> You know the difference, like completely
146. 5:30different high. Heart palpitations, you
147. 5:33know, paranoia.
148. 5:35>> In a statement, the Home Office called
149. 5:37our report concerning.
150. 5:39They said seizures hit a record high
151. 5:41last year, taking massive quantities of
152. 5:43drugs out of circulation and costing
153. 5:46gangs billions.
154. 5:47>> Do you think the Home Office crackdown
155. 5:49working? is working?
156. 5:52>> No.
157. 5:53Why?
158. 5:55Cuz more of more of it's coming through.
159. 5:57>> It's never going to stop.
160. 5:59You can't win this war.
161. 6:01>> Seizures are at a record high, but the
162. 6:03growing number of smuggling attempts
163. 6:05show this illicit trade is a
164. 6:07multi-billion pound racket showing no
165. 6:09signs of slowing down. Scott Hesketh,
166. 6:12BBC News.
167. 6:14>> [music]