A young woman who was arrested on her way to Manchester Airport is now facing up to 60 years in prison. Kim Hall, 28, was apprehended at Chicago’s O’Hare airport where she was due to board her connecting flight back to Manchester. It is alleged she was found with £3.5 million worth of cocaine from Mexico in her suitcases. Homeland Security investigators detained the beautician after reportedly finding 43kg of cocaine stashed in two suitcases.
However, Kim insists that 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.” Kim, from Middlesbrough, was charged with unlawful possession of a controlled substance and possession with intent to deliver after her arrest in August. The 28-year-old now faces one of the most severe sentences, with Class X Felonies typically resulting in 15-60 years in prison.
She is currently detained in Chicago and is awaiting trial, which could start a year from now. Her family have already spent £28,000 on a local attorney, expressing their concern about her physical and mental health. 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 spokeswoman for Cook County court stated: “Her next appearance is on November 13.”