‘It seemed really legit,’ says Brit caught with £15m of cocaine after accepting free Cancun holiday from strange men
A BRIT woman who was caught with £15m of cocaine after accepting a free sunny holiday in Cancun has said the deal looked “really legit”.
Kim Hall, 28, is now facing 60 long years in American jail after being accused of possessing 43kg of the Class A drug in her holiday suitcases.
The Brit woman from Middlesbrough was arrested on August 18 at Chicago’s O’Hare airport as she was going through security to catch a connecting flight to London.
She was on her way home from a week-long holiday in Mexico.
Kim said she had been offered the free holiday to Cancun by two British men she met on an earlier trip to Portugal.
All she had to do was bring back two suitcases she thought contained $250,000 in cash back home.
She was reportedly told the money belonged to one of the two men’s family who “lost his passport and was in trouble”.
She agreed but then had a fallout with the men who threatened her with a gun and took her phone and passport off her.
Kim eventually caught a flight home but was stopped in Chicago when Homeland Security officials found the drugs during a random check.
She collapsed in tears as she was handcuffed and hauled off to jail.
Protesting her innocence, the self-employed beautician told ITV‘s This Morning: “It just seemed really legit and straightforward.
“I was going to go on a holiday, take a break and just do them a favour by bringing back this money to give to a member of their family.
“They just said that one of them had lost their passport and they were in trouble and needed to get some money home to their family.”
Kim claims she was told it was nothing to worry about as the money could be justified to customs officers.
She said that the two men “didn’t come across as being criminals” – and that she accepted the free holiday because she needed “a bit of breathing space”.
She added: “I just had a lot going on at home at the time and I just needed a bit of breathing space so it was a breath of fresh air really to go there.
“I spent the holiday alone really for the whole week, I just met them briefly at the beginning and then I spent a lot of time on my own.”
Thre Brit woman said she did not look inside the suitcase because she “didn’t want to make the situation worse” if any money were to go missing.
Kim has now been charged with unlawful possession of a controlled substance and intent to deliver it.
As the amount she was allegedly found with is more than 900 grams the offence is in the top bracket for sentencing — a Class X Felony which carries 15 to 60 years in jail.
Kim appeared in court in South California this month.
The Brit woman, who has previously pleaded not guilty to possession of a controlled substance and possession with intent to deliver, appeared before Judge Michael B McHale for a two-minute hearing.
A defiant Kim said: “My position has not changed.
“I am innocent of these charges – I did not traffic drugs.”
Speaking to The Sun, the Brit beautician said: “There’s no way that I would knowingly transport drugs in any way, shape or form.
“I’m not a bad person. I’ve never been in trouble in my life and I’m not guilty of what they are accusing me of.”
The woman claimed one of the men put a gun to her head and threatened her to carry the suitcases.
“I didn’t knowingly smuggle drugs. I’m not a drug trafficker and I’m going to fight to prove my innocence with every bone in my body,” she said.
“The two guys threatened me, but not just with words.
“They were annoyed because they thought I was trying to avoid taking the suitcases.
“One of them dragged me off the bed by my hair and held a handgun to my head.
“He said: ‘I’ll f*cking shoot you.’ It was the most frightening thing I’ve ever experienced in my life.
“This has gone from: ‘Come to Mexico for a holiday’ to being held at gunpoint.
“They held a gun to my head and threatened to shoot me.”
When she was arrested at the airport she suffered a panic attack.
She said: “I was in shock, completely numb, it was such a bizarre feeling like I was watching someone else in a film.
“I couldn’t breathe.
“I cried and cried, I was pleading with them to let me call my mum and dad.
Kim is on house arrest and is allowed out two days a week but has to wear two electronic tags.
‘DESPERATELY NEEDS HELP’
The Sun was there on one of those days out when she had an emotional reunion with dad John, 59 — the first family member she has seen since her arrest nearly three months ago.
After hugging his daughter, construction boss John hit out at the lack of support from the Government.
He said: “When a British national is in trouble abroad, your first move is to phone the British Embassy and you expect back-up.
“We phoned and I eventually got put through to a support team but they said they’re not allowed to get involved in criminal investigations.
“I said, ‘She desperately needs help.’ I explained all this to them and all they did was give me a list of charities to contact.
“Nobody helped. I’m disgusted with the British Government.”
John, who is paying for Kim’s attorney, added: “It’s heartbreaking to see her like this. It’s a situation that no dad would ever think he would find himself in.
“We’ll do everything we can to bring her home. She is innocent.”
While she has been held on remand, Kim, whose dreams of becoming a theatrical make-up artist now lie in tatters, has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
And she said her psychiatrist reckons she was in the middle of a manic episode when she agreed to carry the suitcases.
She added: “Being diagnosed was a difficult pill to swallow but it was also a relief to know because I thought I’d gone crazy.
“I believe there’s been a mental illness there for a long while but it got really severe over the past three to four years.
“You definitely have impaired thinking because of it and don’t really see the consequences of something bad about to happen.