Oliver Chiverton was handed a suspended sentence after he was stopped at Manchester Airport
17:13, 15 Sep 2025Updated 17:38, 15 Sep 2025
Oliver Chiverton was caught red-handed(Image: PA)
A man who claimed he moved to Thailand to start a ‘new life’ was caught with 26 kilos of cannabis at Manchester Airport.
Oliver Chiverton, 32, was stopped by Border Force officials at terminal 1 on August 16 this year. He was asked about his two suitcases and told officers they were not his but had been handed to him.
Chiverton added that he thought they might contain cigarettes, Manchester Crown Court heard. But when officers searched the cases, they found multiple sealed packages of the class B drug worth over £60,000.
He pleaded guilty to being concerned in the fraudulent evasion of a prohibition of the importation of a class B drug, claiming that he owed a drug debt to those he worked for whilst living in Thailand.
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The judge, Recorder Geoffrey Lowe, handed him a suspended sentence. He told him: “You went there to settle and start a new life. Thailand is a popular location for tourists and sadly people exploit their vulnerability.”
The court heard that 24 packages of cannabis were recovered, with an estimated street value of £68,000.
In a basis of plea document read to the court, Chiverton said he had built up a drugs debt whilst in Thailand, and said that in order to clear the debt, he was told to bring the suitcases into the UK.
He claimed he had a ‘limited awareness’ of the scale of the operation and did not receive any financial benefit.
Chiverton was said to have previous convictions for violence, criminal damage and one offence relating to possession of drugs in 2010.
Jawad Babar, defending, said his client was trying to ‘balance things in his life’ after a difficult upbringing.
“He had regular work [over there], and his income just about covered his expenses. He was trying to rebuild his life in Thailand,” he said.
“He was working for an organisation looking for people to exploit.”
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Mr Baber said the organisation had previously asked him to take a suitcase but he refused, however afterwards they stopped giving him work which ‘made life difficult for him’.
“He was left in a desperate position and he agreed to do it,” he added.
Chiverton, of Moa Place, Freshwater in the Isle of Wight, was handed 14 months imprisonment which was suspended for two years, 20 days of rehabilitation activity requirements and 200 hours unpaid work.