Video has emerged of the moment a young British couple were intercepted by Turkish customs officers after they allegedly tried to fly with nearly 20 kilograms of cannabis hidden inside their luggage.
Holly Cooper and her boyfriend Taylor Johnson, both 20, were detained at Istanbul Airport after arriving on a flight from Thailand and attempting to board a connecting service to London.
Footage released by authorities shows the pair being ordered to remove their bags from a luggage carousel.
They were then taken to a custody suite in the international arrivals area where investigators checked their luggage.
Officers allegedly discovered 17 vacuum-sealed bags containing green plant fragments inside Taylor Johnson’s suitcase.
A drug test later confirmed the substance was marijuana, officials said.
They were then thrown into an overcrowded holding cell where Mr Johnson was beaten up, his family claimed.
The pair were formally arrested and transferred to a jail where they may have to wait an entire year for their trial.
According to Turkish officials, Customs Enforcement, Smuggling and Intelligence teams had identified the couple through risk analysis checks before stopping them on April 26.
Footage captured the moment a young British couple were intercepted by Turkish customs officers after allegedly trying to fly with nearly 20 kilograms of cannabis hidden inside their luggage
Authorities said the seized cannabis weighed 19 kilograms and 260 grams and had an estimated street value of around 17 million Turkish lira (£275,000)
Holly Cooper and her boyfriend Taylor Johnson, both 20, were detained at Istanbul Airport after arriving on a flight from Thailand
Authorities said the seized cannabis weighed 19 kilograms and 260 grams and had an estimated street value of around 17 million Turkish lira (£275,000).
Ms Cooper, of Coseley, and Taylor, of Wednesbury, flew to Thailand last month and were coming home via their flight to Istanbul when they were stopped by police on April 26.
Instead of flying directly home from Bangkok to London on April 26, they caught a flight via Istanbul as it was cheaper.
Around 2pm they boarded Turkish Airlines flight TK1435 to London at Gate B5, but as they were settling down in their seats ready for take-off investigators were onto them.
A source said: ‘As a result of risk analysis conducted by the Customs Intelligence Directorate at Istanbul Airport a passenger with a UK passport was identified as a suspect.’
Officers swooped on the plane and ordered the pair off. They were then taken to a luggage carousel and ordered to collect their bags.
If convicted, Ms Cooper and Mr Johnson face a minimum sentence of 10 years, but it could be as long as 30 years.
The couple do not have their own lawyers and will instead be represented by public defenders.
Ms Cooper, of Coseley, and Taylor, of Wednesbury, flew to Thailand last month and were coming home via their flight to Istanbul when they were stopped by police on April 26
The couple do not have their own lawyers and will instead be represented by public defenders. Desperate to help, friends have launched a GoFundMe to raise money while the couple languishes in foreign cells
Gracie, a family friend who set up the crowdfund, admitted that ‘to some it may be cheeky’ to raise money for the pair but said that: ‘anyone that knows Taylor knows he would help you as much as he can’
Desperate to help, friends have launched a GoFundMe to raise money while the couple languishes in foreign cells.
Gracie, a family friend who set up the crowdfund, admitted that ‘to some it may be cheeky’ to raise money for the pair but said that: ‘anyone that knows Taylor knows he would help you as much as he can’.
Ms Cooper’s aunt Maxine Cooper confirmed her arrest.
The Foreign Office said it was providing support to two Britons held in Turkey and their families.
A family friend said that the pair were ‘good kids’.
He told The Sun: ‘OK, they’ve done something stupid this time, but everyone makes mistakes.
‘They’ve been recruited and groomed by bigger criminals and exploited by them. They are alone in a Turkish prison. It’s shocking and apparently Taylor has been beaten up. The families are in bits.’
