A former drug smuggler who took around 300 flights carrying hash or heroin has told how his ‘heart would be pounding out of my chest’ as he stood waiting for his luggage.
Mark Dempster, who is now a Harley Street counsellor, told how he was wracked with ‘fear’ and ‘adrenalisation’ as he flew the illicit cargo across the globe, including into the UK.
The 60-year-old spoke as a number of young British nationals including Bella May Culley await their fate in foreign jails having been arrested on suspicion of smuggling drugs.
It’s believed that crime syndicates are targeting young Westerners to use as mules for the transportation of legally grown cannabis out of Thailand.
The father-of-two’s knowledge of the international criminal underworld comes from his time as a drug dealer and smuggler who travelled the globe in search of the best product.
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Starting at the age of 20, he spent more than a decade flying drugs on long-haul trips by either secreting the product inside his body or stashing it inside his luggage or in his clothes.
‘I was never a mule, I always smuggled for myself, but the feelings are similar,’ Mark said. ‘There’s fear and adrenalisation.
‘You package the drugs in the bag as best you can, with a false bottom on the bag, or you can put it in clothing or your shoes, depending on the size of what you’re trying to smuggle.
‘Fundamentally, I would be thinking of what mode of transport I would be getting, whether it be a flight or a boat, and what customs would be like at the time of arrival.
‘I would map out things like what terminal at Heathrow would be most busy in the early hours of the morning.
‘But actually none of it might be relevant; there might be loads of customs for some unknown reason.
‘When I was at the carousel my heart would be beating out of my chest.
‘You try and stagger and look where it’s busier when you go through the green zone and conceal youself among other people.
‘You try and imagine yourself in another scenario in order not to exhibit the fear of carrying drugs through customs that could get you say, five years in prison. You can’t stay in that thought process, you have to imagine yourself somewhere else.’
Drug smuggling allegations have come into full glare after the arrest of Bella, from Billingham on Teesside, in Georgia.
The 18-year-old went missing in Thailand three weeks ago before it emerged she had been apprehended by the authorities at Tbilisi Airport.
The aspiring nurse, who is said to be pregnant, faces a maximum sentence of 20 years or life imprisonment in the post-Soviet country if she is convicted over a cannabis haul worth £200,000.
Her case was followed by that of Charlotte May Lee, 21, who is currently in prison in Sri Lanka, also accused of trying to run the drug out of Thailand.
Charlotte, from Coulsdon, South London, has protested her innocence from a notorious jail north of the capital Colombo and court proceedings are ongoing in both cases.
All deny the drug smuggling accusations.
Dozens of other cases involving British nationals have cropped up over the past 12 months.
Mark, who now lives in Beaconsfield, would smuggle up to 10kg of hash in his luggage, worth around £90,000 today, on flights between India, Thailand, Amsterdam and the UK.
He also carried smaller quantities of the resin wrapped in clingfilm and secreted inside his body via swallowing or rectal insertion.
As he achieved his misguided ambition of becoming a large-scale drug dealer, Mark also smuggled heroin from Thailand and India to the UK between the 80s and mid-90s.
‘One of my worries about carrying the drugs internally was whether they could spill out,’ he said.
‘If you feel sick on the plane you don’t want to tell anyone because you will end up in prison.
‘But you also know you might die if you don’t.’
The therapist has documented his escapades in his book, Nothing to Declare: Confessions of an Unsuccessful Drug Smuggler, Dealer and Addict, and helps others overcome their addictions.
He told Metro that he made around 300 trips smuggling drugs and while he has served time in prison, he was never caught on a plane or in an airport. However, friends did end up in prison in Thailand, which the author described as ‘a serious place to be.’
He underwent detox and recovery, which included selling the Big Issue, on the road to Harley Street and staying clean for 28 years.
He tells clients: ‘I can help because I’ve been there, I know how to get out.’
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