A British woman accused of smuggling £15 million worth of cocaine in her suitcases has pleaded her innocence and claimed she thought she was carrying two bags of cash.
Beautician Kim Hall, 28, from Middlesbrough, was stopped at Chicago’s O’Hare airport as she prepared to board a connecting flight from Mexico to Manchester on August 18.
Homeland Security discovered 43kg of Class A drugs in her luggage during a check after she raised suspicions.
Now facing 60 years in a US jail, Ms Hall alleges she agreed to bring to bring the cases home for a pair of British men under the belief they only contained $250,000 (£195,226).
She wept as she told The Sun: “I’m not a bad person. I’ve never been in trouble in my life and I’m not guilty of what they are accusing me of.
“They held a gun to my head and threatened to shoot me.
“I’m not a drug trafficker and I’m going to fight with every bone in my body to prove my innocence.”
She insists she was forced to carry the bags at gunpoint, after being offered a free holiday to Cancun by the two men she befriended on an earlier break to Portugal - who said they had real estate interests in Central America.
Separately, Ms Hall claimed her psychiatrist believes she was in the middle of a manic episode caused by a bipolar disorder when she agreed to carry the suitcases.
“I agreed to it because there was no reason not to,” she said.
“It was just money and I didn’t see anything wrong in it.
“I had no suspicion that this was about drugs.”
Ms Hall has pleaded not guilty a Class X Felony which carries 15 to 60 years in jail. She is due to appear in Chicago’s criminal courthouse on Wednesday when a judge is expected to fix a trial date.
Ms Hall is on house arrest and allowed out of Cook County Jail two days a week but has to wear two electronic tags.
Her father John Hall, 59, a construction boss, hit out at the apparent lack of support from the UK Government.
A Foreign Office spokesman said: “We are supporting a British woman on bail in the US and are in touch with the local authorities.”
