Moment Brit 'drug mule' couple caught with £280k of cannabis at Turkish airport as alleged smugglers face 30 years in prison
Holly Cooper and Taylor Johnson, both 20, are accused of attempting to smuggling cannabis from Thailand to the UK.
This is the moment a British couple are arrested in Turkey accused of trying to smuggle £280,000 worth of cannabis back to the UK.
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Holly Cooper and Taylor Johnson, both 20 and from the West Midlands, were arrested after landing in Istanbul on 26 April while flying back from Thailand, as they tried to catch a connecting flight to London.
Footage released by Turkish authorities shows the couple being told to remove their bags from a luggage carousel before officers found 17 black vacuum-packed bags with 19.2kg of cannabis stashed inside.
Cooper, dressed in all black, is seen holding a pink neck pillow looking in horror as officers flagged down her belongings.
Read more: Brit 'drug mule' couple faces 30 years in Turkish prison after 'trying to bring cannabis into UK'
#SONDAKİKA | HAVALİMANINDA UYUŞTURUCU OPERASYONU
— Hanifi Bayar (@hanifi_bayar) May 7, 2026
İstanbul Havalimanı’nda yapılan risk analizi çalışmaları kapsamında, Bangkok’tan İstanbul üzerinden Londra’ya gitmek isteyen iki İngiliz yolcu şüpheli olarak takibe alındı.
Şüpheliler Taylor Astle Johnson ile Holly Ann Cooper’ın… pic.twitter.com/MALXtYg97b
Johnson, wearing a white t-shirt and black trousers, was carrying a blue neck pillow as the pair were stopped.
They were then taken to a back room where Cooper was ordered to open her suitcase.
An officer wearing blue protective gloves removed her clothes from the bag before inspecting the lining to find nothing there.
A second official opened Johnson’s 24kg bag to discover dozens of vacuum-packed bags covered by a grey towel.
The officer took a knife to one of the bags to open it, revealing the stash of drugs which testing showed was cannabis.
The couple were then separated and kept in holding cells before being formally arrested at a court.
They now wait behind bars ahead of a looming trial. If convicted, they could both face a sentence of between 10 and 30 years.
They reportedly do not have private legal representation and are expected to be defended by public lawyers.
A family friend 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.”
Their family claim criminals allegedly groomed them in Gran Canaria.
Cooper, from Coseley, and Johnson, from Wednesbury, travelled to Thailand last month and were stopped by police in Istanbul on 26 April while on their way back to the UK.
Friends launched a GoFundMe appeal to help raise money for the couple, which raised £455 in just five days, and has since been taken down.
Gracie, a family friend who set up the fundraiser, said: “to some it may be cheeky” to ask for donations, but added that “anyone that knows Taylor knows he would help you as much as he can”.
Ms Cooper’s aunt, Maxine Cooper, confirmed her arrest to The Sun, according to the paper.
A Foreign Office spokesperson told LBC: "We are providing support to two British nationals detained in Turkey as well as their families, and are in touch with local authorities."