A drug mule mom caught smuggling more than $200,000 worth of cannabis from New York has offered a simple warning to two young women facing jail abroad for similar crimes: “Tell the truth.”
Levi-April Whalley, 31, a former nurse from the UK, was arrested in 2023 along with Sophie Bannister, 30, after the pair arrived home from New York with some 77 pounds of marijuana in their bags.
The two glam drug mules told border officials at Birmingham International Airport they had been on a New York shopping spree when they were stopped, before the 70 heat-sealed packages with a value of $217,000 were found hidden in their luggage, LancsLive reported.
Bannister and Whalley — who have since launched OnlyFans accounts — sobbed as they were handed an 18-month suspended sentence at Preston Crown Court in northwest England last month, the outlet reported last month.
Whalley has now issued a warning to Bella May Culley, 18, and Charlotte May Lee, 21, two fellow young British women suspected of being drug mules and now facing hefty prison sentences abroad.
“If I had a chance to speak to Bella and Charlotte, I would tell them to tell the truth and be honest. I hope they are OK, and I understand exactly what they are going through. I can imagine how worried they are and really hope the truth does come out,” she told The Mirror.
Culley, a nursing student from northeast England, was arrested in the former Soviet country of Georgia earlier this month and is suspected of smuggling 30 pounds of cannabis in from Thailand.
Lee, a former flight attendant from south London, was seized in Sri Lanka earlier this month, accused of carrying a synthetic drug made of human bones from Thailand, worth an estimated $3.3 million.
Both women deny the charges against them.
Whalley added that she was lucky she was arrested in the UK, as the situation could have been far worse if she had been detained abroad.
“I believe if I was caught abroad, it would have been a completely different outcome for myself. I believe I would have been in the same situation as them,” she said.
While she avoided prison, Whalley described the past 16 months as “torture,” which resulted in the loss of her career and prevented her from traveling.
“Not being able to travel and being suspended at work, having to rebuild my whole life and then also becoming a mother,” she said.
But Whalley believes that Culley and Lee are “victims” who were in “vulnerable” situations similar to hers when she agreed to be a drug mule.
“I was not in a good place and could say I was somewhat vulnerable at the time. These are two young girls, and I believe that’s probably the same situation for them,” she said.
Despite that, she knows how severe her crime was and accepts she was lucky to avoid a prison sentence.
“Just because I had a suspended sentence, should not set a precedent for others to do it. [This situation] shows that people don’t always get the outcome we had, and should now make people aware of the actual dangers of bringing someone’s suitcase back,” she added.
Culley, who told a judge in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, that she is pregnant, did not answer the judge’s questions regarding the allegations against her and has not entered a plea.
Lee claimed she knew who had put the drugs in her bag, but wouldn’t give their name.
If found guilty, she faces 25 years in prison.
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