Woman arrested in international cannabis smuggling believed to have handbags in her suitcase

A woman arrested in Dublin, Ireland, for smuggling cannabis allegedly told authorities she had not intentionally broken any law, believing she was merely carrying a suitcase full of handbags.

According to a report by the Irish Examiner, Yejieda Johnson, a 26-year-old Londoner, was arrested at Dublin Airport over the weekend with 37 kilograms of cannabis and charged with illegal importation, possession, sale or supply of drugs.

Irish authorities, known as “Garda Síochána,” put the street value of the cannabis at around €740,000, or just under $800,000 (although anyone with access to a calculator or fourth grade math can work out the total price for all of this) . should be more like 80,000 US dollars even in Europe).

According to the prosecutor, Garda Tom McLoughlin appeared in court to oppose the release of Johnson on bail. McLoughlin claimed Johnson was “caught in the act” trying “very deliberately to conceal 37kg of cannabis”. McLoughlin stated under cross-examination that Johnson insisted that she had purses on her and “never touched cannabis”.

McLoughlin went on to claim that Johnson posed a “clear and imminent risk of absconding” as she had no Irish residential address or family connections in the area. Johnson reportedly flew out of New York City’s John F. Kennedy Airport and was due to catch a connecting flight from Dublin to her home in London on Saturday.

The investigative report went on to say that Johnson pleaded innocent in court and pleaded bail. Johnson told the court she has lived in London all her life and is currently living with family members. She told the court she was a mother of one and previously worked at a hotel spa and cafe, although she was unemployed at the time of the hearing. She vowed in court to return to Ireland and prove her innocence.

“I have no reason not to come back, I’m innocent,” Johnson said. “I didn’t know what was in those cases. I’m not going to run away or anything. I’m innocent, I’m not a criminal.”

According to another report in the Sunday World, defense attorney Karl Monahan pleaded for bail and said Johnson could wait up to two years in Irish prison before her actual trial began. He also argued that the street value and exact nature of the drugs has not yet been officially established, which could explain the incredibly high figure above (I did the math and even estimated it to be $10 a gram, that’s only $367,000).

Curiously, another woman who was flying from Amsterdam to Dublin with a suitcase containing 10 kilograms of ketamine was also arrested at Dublin Airport on the same day. Authorities did not say there was any reason to believe the incidents were related. However, they did state that the ketamine had a street value of $600,000, which actually might be pretty low considering it’s sold by the gram, but I digress.

The following quote was given to the Irish Mirror by a Garda spokesman:

“Gardaí arrested two women as part of two separate seizures by tax officers at Dublin Airport on Saturday 2 September 2023. The seizures included 37kg of herbal cannabis valued at an estimated €740,000 and around 10kg of suspect ketamine valued at €600,000. Two women in their 20s were arrested by Gardaí and later imprisoned. They have since been charged with these separate seizures and appeared before the Dublin Criminal Court this morning, Monday 4 September 2023.”

A spokesman for the IRS also told the Irish Mirror: “The illegal drugs were discovered when IRS stopped and searched the luggage of passengers boarding flights from New York and Amsterdam.”

Yejieda Johnson was eventually granted bail of €1,000 plus an additional bond of €10,000. She would also have to leave her London address, phone number and other assurances that she would return to Ireland for the trial. She was returned to Irish custody pending a court appearance again on 9/11.