Brit woman, 28, faces 60 years in US prison after 'smuggling £3.5m of cocaine in suitcases'

Kim Hall was arrested at Chicago's O'Hare airport as she was about to board a connecting flight home to Manchester on August 8 and now faces 60 years behind bars.

A young British woman is facing up to 60 years in a US prison after allegedly smuggling £3.5m worth of cocaine from Mexico in her suitcases. Kim Hall, 28, was apprehended at Chicago's O'Hare airport while waiting for her connecting flight back to Manchester.

Homeland Security officers detained the beautician after finding 43kg of cocaine stashed in two suitcases. However, Kim insists she was coerced into smuggling the drugs by two men who had offered her a free trip to Cancun and then threatened her upon arrival, reports the Mirror.

Her family in the UK maintain that "the only thing she's guilty of is being stupid and being naive". Her father John, 59, revealed that she had met the men, who claimed to be property developers, on a previous trip to Portugal.

They invited her to stay with them and subsequently offered her a free holiday, but allegedly forced her to bring two suitcases home which they had packed, and which she believed contained $250,000 in cash. Speaking to The Sun, John said: "She's not a drug smuggler. She was told that it would be money she was carrying. They got her phone and threatened her family and that's why she did it. She'd been to Portugal with a friend and met people over there who contacted her when she was back saying they were into real estate in Mexico and she could go for a free holiday."

"Her friend declined but she said she would go. She's never been into trouble, nothing at all. She's had a good upbringing and has always worked for her money. The only thing she's guilty of is being stupid and being naive."

Kim, from Middlesbrough, was charged with unlawful possession of a controlled substance and possession with intent to deliver following her arrest in August. The sheer volume of drugs seized means the 28 year old finds herself facing one of the harshest sentences, with Class X Felonies typically carrying 15-60 years in prison.

She is now being held in Chicago and is awaiting trial, which could commence a year from now. Her family have so far forked out £28,000 for a local attorney, and say they're distressed about her physical and mental well-being.

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John added: "For the first few weeks, you couldn't speak to her for the tears. She said: 'You don't understand what they were threatening me with'. That's as much as we can get out of her. She's petrified. Without a shadow of a doubt she was forced into carrying this stuff back. And I'm not just saying that to try and protect my daughter. I'm telling you that as a father who knows a daughter inside out."

A Cook County court spokeswoman said: "Her next appearance is on November 13."

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