Ex-Asda manager jailed after smuggling 30kg of cannabis into Manchester Airport

A former Asda manager has been jailed for attempting to smuggle 30kg of cannabis through Manchester Airport.

Louisa de Marco, 57, had been promised £10,000 if she successfully carried the drugs from Thailand.

Manchester Crown Court heard that she was detained by officers after collecting two cases from the carousel at the airport.

They found de Marco to be carrying 31.25kg of the Class B drug.

She was sentenced on Friday to 20 months in prison, of which she is expected to serve half locked up.

De Marco previously held a £40,000-a-year managerial job at Asda, which she lost during Covid.

She had since been assessed as being unfit for work because of physical and mental difficulties and currently receives benefits, the MEN reported.

In a police interview, she confirmed she met someone on a previous trip to Thailand who offered her the chance to make some money.

The contact had paid for her latest trip to the south east Asian country.

De Marco pleaded guilty to fraudulent evasion of a prohibition on the importation of a class B drug, having initially said she had not packed the cases and believed they contained tobacco.

Bradley Mather, defending, said that De Marco had been subject to intimidatory behaviour by the drug exporters, who were thought to have threatened to cancel her flights if she failed to comply with their demands.

He asked that the mother be spared a prison sentence as her adult daughter relied on her to pay the rent.

Judge Recorder Sarah Griffin, sentencing, said De Marco had travelled to Thailand with her ‘eyes wide open’.

She added: ‘You knew exactly what you were letting yourself in for.’

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