A Scottish influencer is facing jail time after being caught trying to smuggle more than £150,000 worth of cannabis into the United Kingdom.
Ellie Crampsie, from Glasgow, was found with the Class B drug stashed in her luggage when she landed in Edinburgh on April 16, 2025.
The 23-year-old, who is a well-known social media personality, had returned on an Air France flight from Thailand via Paris before being stopped by Border Force officers.
Edinburgh Sheriff Court heard this week that officials discovered 17 separate sealed packages containing 17.7kg of cannabis with a total value of between £115,000 and £151,000.
Crampsie, who owns beauty business Brows by Ellie, pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of cannabis when she appeared in court on Thursday.
Explaining the moment Crampsie was caught, prosecutor Emma Laing said: ‘She was asked the usual questions by the officer and she confirmed she had travelled from Thailand.
‘Her luggage was opened and a number of vacuum packages were within.’
Defence agent Mr Hodge said his client is currently single and has ‘the benefit of the support of her parents who have attended court today’.
The lawyer asked for Crampsie’s bail to be continued while the social work report is prepared and described her previous criminal offending as ‘unremarkable in the context of this offence’.
Sheriff Graeme Watson said: ‘I’m going to adjourn sentencing in this case to allow the court to obtain a criminal justice social work report and a restriction of liberty assessment.
‘In the meantime I am going to continue your bail conditions. That should be no prejudgment of what comes next, all sentencing options will be open to me on the next occasion, do you understand that?’
The number of Brits caught smuggling drugs back into the country from abroad has sky-rocketed in recent years.
Recent figures released by the National Crime Agency revealed that passengers caught smuggling on airlines has increased by 3,625 per cent.
As recently as 2022, there were as few as 20 air passengers arrested for attempting to import cannabis.
But in 2023, it was 134 and in 2024, 745 airport passengers were arrested. In the first nine months of 2025, 680 air passengers were detained for cannabis smuggling.
Just last month, mother-of-three Nicole Hutchinson, 25, was jailed after being caught smuggling £100,000 worth of cannabis to fund treatments for her beauty ‘obsession’.
Hutchinson was arrested after being stopped at Manchester Airport with father-of-two Kia Underwood, 28, with two suitcases containing just under 50kg of the drug.
And last year, former nurse Levi-April Whalley, 31, was spared jail after after being caught attempting to smuggle over 35kg worth.
She tried to bring the drugs – worth around £160,000 – hidden inside two suitcases on a flight from New York to Birmingham. Whalley was handed a suspended sentence for the crime.
