{"id":291669,"date":"2025-07-25T22:13:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-25T22:13:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/291669\/"},"modified":"2025-07-25T22:13:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T22:13:11","slug":"he-complained-his-suitcase-had-gone-missing-at-manchester-airport-then-he-was-arrested","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/291669\/","title":{"rendered":"He complained his suitcase had gone missing at Manchester Airport – then he was arrested"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oruno Ododo was jailed for three years\"OrunoOruno Ododo<\/p>\n

A drug courier who reported his suitcase had gone missing during a trip to Manchester Airport found himself in hot water with police when he came to collect it.<\/p>\n

Oruno Ododo had journeyed from Bangkok via Hong Kong on February 12 this year, when his luggage disappeared – arriving separately from him later on.<\/p>\n

The 25-year-old lodged a complaint at the time, Manchester Crown Court heard.<\/p>\n

However, a border force officer deemed the suitcase suspicious later that day and upon investigation, discovered it was packed with cannabis worth an estimated \u00a383,000.<\/p>\n

Ododo initially claimed he had been forced into the act, but subsequently admitted to being involved in the fraudulent evasion of a prohibition of the importation of a class B drug, reports the Manchester Evening News<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At Manchester Crown Court on Friday (July 25) he was jailed for three years.<\/p>\n

Georgia Kennedy-Curnow, prosecuting, said that on February 12 this year, a Border Force officer at Terminal 2 at Manchester Airport identified a large grey suitcase had missed its connecting flight.<\/p>\n

She approached Global Baggage Solutions and found that Ododo had complained about the suitcase not arriving. He had travelled from Bangkok via Hong Kong to Manchester, the court heard.<\/p>\n

The officer asked the worker to inform them if anyone came to collect the bag, during which it was x-rayed and showed evidence of drugs concealed within.<\/p>\n

Using bolt cutters to open the suitcase, she found 18 packages of cannabis weighing around 20.71 kilos.<\/p>\n

“On February 15 the defendant arrived to collect his suitcase and was arrested after he confirmed it belonged to him,” said Ms Kennedy-Curnow.<\/p>\n

“He did state he was given this suitcase on the street and told to bring it to the UK. He said he was coerced and feared for his safety.”<\/p>\n

The court heard that his phone was confiscated for analysis, but Ododo did not provide a PIN code.<\/p>\n

German national Ododo was said to have previous convictions for battery, drug dealing and stalking, and was subject to a community order and a suspended sentence order at the time of the offences.<\/p>\n

Representing himself, Ododo said: “I was coerced to commit this offence. I was in Thailand for six days.”<\/p>\n

When asked how he paid for the trip, he replied: “I didn’t.”<\/p>\n

He continued: “I did feel I was coerced to commit this offence. I had my phone seized, I already pleaded guilty, I didn’t give the [PIN] code as I didn’t deem it my responsibility to prove I wasn’t coerced.”<\/p>\n

Jailing him, Recorder Nicholas Flanagan said: “You sought to bring in a large quantity of cannabis into the UK. Drugs are a blight on our community and I have no doubt you did this for some financial gain.<\/p>\n

“I have no confidence you will comply with any court order.”<\/p>\n

Ododo, of Victoria Street, Openshaw, was jailed for three years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Oruno Ododo was jailed for three yearsOruno Ododo A drug courier who reported his suitcase had gone missing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":291670,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[748,188,393,4884,378,2465,2314,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-291669","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-crime","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-in-the-news","13":"tag-manchester","14":"tag-manchester-airport","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114916177107014386","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291669","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=291669"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291669\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/291670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}