Mother and daughter jailed for attempted drug smuggles into Scottish airports

The pair were caught just days apart with around £200,000 of cannabis.

A mother has been jailed for smuggling cannabis into the UK via Edinburgh Airport - the day before her daughter was caught doing exactly the same in Glasgow.

Xiaodan Wang, 51, of Duke Street, in Glasgow's East End, was arrested in possession of around 10 kilos of cannabis on December 30, 2017, telling National Crime Agency investigators that she did not know the drugs were in the bags she was carrying on a flight from Barcelona.

Xiaodan Wang and her daughter Zixian Long. Picture: National Crime Agency

The next day her daughter, Zixian Long, 21, of the same address, was detained by Border Force at Glasgow Airport, also in possession of around 10 kilos of cannabis.

The sealed packages were identical to those found on Wang. Each seizure was estimated to have a street value of up to £100,000.

NCA investigators were later able to establish that the pair had stayed in the same hotel in Barcelona.

In the months before the pair were held, Wang had made three other trips over to Spain, always returning into Glasgow or Prestwick. Some of the bookings were made using her daughter’s email and phone contact details.

Long was convicted of importing class B drugs and being concerned in the supply of Class B Controlled Drugs at Paisley Sheriff Court after a trial, and was jailed for two years yesterday.

Wang pleaded guilty to importing class B drugs in November 2019 and today was sentenced to 32 months in prison at Edinburgh Sheriff Court.

NCA Organised Crime Partnership (Scotland) operations manager John McGowan said: “Drug traffickers like Long and Wang are an important part of a chain that organised criminals rely upon to bring their products into the UK and generate profit.

“The profits they make from cannabis can be re-invested, sometimes into other forms organised crime.

“This is why we are determined to do all we can, with partners such as Border Force, to stop them in their tracks and disrupt their supply routes.”