{"id":190151,"date":"2025-06-16T23:04:12","date_gmt":"2025-06-16T23:04:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/190151\/"},"modified":"2025-06-16T23:04:12","modified_gmt":"2025-06-16T23:04:12","slug":"american-drug-mule-took-a-gamble-for-life-changing-sum-it-didnt-pay-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/190151\/","title":{"rendered":"American drug mule took a gamble for \u2018life-changing\u2019 sum – it didn\u2019t pay off"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chelsea Blanton was jailed for 17 months\"ChelseaChelsea Blanton(Image: Greater Manchester Police)<\/p>\n

An American drug mule was caught at Manchester Airport with 28 kilos of cannabis in a \u2018risky gamble\u2019 for a \u2018life-changing\u2019 sum.<\/p>\n

Chelsea Blanton, 29, had travelled from Texas to Saudi Arabia to Malaysia before heading to Manchester via Heathrow. She was stopped by Border Force officers on May 7 this year.<\/p>\n

In her suitcase, officers found 15 vacuum sealed packages of cannabis in her two suitcases. Their wholesale value was \u00a380,000, Manchester Crown Court<\/a> heard.<\/p>\n

Blanton would later tell a court that she had been offered the \u2018life-changing\u2019 amount of $8,500.<\/p>\n

Jailing her, Judge Tom Gilbart said: \u201cYou took a gamble, it didn\u2019t pay off. You now have to pay the consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n

The court heard when she was arrested at Manchester Airport<\/a>, Blanton made a \u2018false claim\u2019 regarding her visit to the UK. She later admitted drug smuggling when confronted with the cannabis.<\/p>\n

\u201cSpeaking to the probation service, you confirmed you did this to make money. You took a risk, you said you would be paid $8,500,\u201d the judge said.<\/p>\n

\"ChelseaChelsea Blanton(Image: Greater Manchester Police)<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no suggestion of intimidation or coercion. There was a degree of naivety on your part.\u201d<\/p>\n

The court heard she had no previous conviction in the United Kingdom, but had admitted to the probation service that she was imprisoned for assault in the United States.<\/p>\n

Blanton expressed remorse, and said in mitigation that she had suffered trauma following the violent death of her father. She also said she had been the victim of domestic violence in the past, the judge continued.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cI accept you had genuine personal, health and financial difficulties. You have a good work ethic and have worked two jobs to support your family.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have a 12-year-old child, he must pay the consequences for the decisions you have made.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou described this opportunity as life changing, and I accept you would have received significant financial gain.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blanton, of no fixed abode, was jailed for 17 months, of which she will serve half in prison before she will be liable to deportation back to the United States.<\/p>\n

\u201cGiven you committed this crime having left your son with your mother, it can\u2019t be a proper or fair reason to step back from custody,\u201d Judge Gilbart added.<\/p>\n

Join our Court and Crime WhatsApp group HERE<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chelsea Blanton was jailed for 17 monthsChelsea Blanton(Image: Greater Manchester Police) An American drug mule was caught at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":190152,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[748,30,393,4884,2465,2314,13393,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-190151","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-courts","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-manchester","13":"tag-manchester-airport","14":"tag-manchester-crown-court","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114695547460060598","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=190151"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190151\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/190152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=190151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=190151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=190151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}