The warning from its national crime agency (NCA) comes amid a huge increase in arrests, the UK high commission in Malaysia said.
It added that 378 people were arrested in connection with investigations into cannabis smuggling by air passengers this year alone, 93 of whom are Malaysian citizens.
“An estimated 15 tonnes of cannabis were detected and seized at UK airports in the same period – already around three times more than in the whole of 2023, when approximately five tonnes of cannabis were seized and 136 people were arrested.
“Around half of all arrests (184) this year related to cannabis that originated in Thailand, while 75 arrests related to cannabis originating from Canada, and 47 to cannabis from the US,” it said in a statement.
The NCA said people caught had said that recruiters told them they only risked a fine if apprehended.
“The maximum sentence for cannabis importation in the UK is up to 14 years in prison. This year, 196 people have already been convicted and handed sentences totalling almost 188 years,” it said in a separate statement yesterday.
“On Aug 9, a total of 11 British passengers were arrested at Birmingham Airport after 510kg of cannabis was found inside 28 suitcases.
“All the passengers had travelled from Thailand, transiting at the Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris (France),” the NCA said.
The agency said it believed the cases were linked and in some instances, officers recovered electronic trackers with the drugs, believed to have been placed by organised criminals at the source so they could follow the illicit loads.
NCA experts said the trend was being fuelled by organised crime gangs with access to cannabis grown overseas in locations where it is legal, and recruiting couriers to transport it to the UK where it can generate greater profit than growing the drugs themselves.
“In some cases, it is unclear whether the mules knew what the potential penalties were but, in most cases, they were operating on behalf of organised criminal gangs.
“It is those couriers who are running the risk of a potentially life-changing prison sentence,” NCA director-general of threats James Babbage said.
He said gangs can make significant profits by selling and smuggling high-quality cannabis legally grown in the US, Canada and Thailand illegally in the UK.