Jail for Stansted Airport drug smuggler
A DRUG smuggler has been jailed for six months after he was caught attempting to bring cannabis worth an estimated £1,700 into the UK through Stansted Airport.
A DRUG smuggler has been jailed for six months after he was caught attempting to bring cannabis worth an estimated £1,700 into the UK through Stansted Airport.
Alfonso Artaechevarria, 52, of Cadiz, Spain, appeared for sentencing at Isleworth Crown Court yesterday (Thursday, November 8) having admitted a charge of drug smuggling at an earlier hearing.
The Spaniard was stopped by Border Force officers at Stansted late at night on September 12 when he arrived on a flight from Jerez.
He was questioned at passport control and arrested after officers suspected he had swallowed drugs.
Artaechevarria consented to an X-ray and was taken to Harlow's Princess Alexandra Hospital where the scan revealed a number of packages in his abdomen. He subsequently admitted to officers that he had swallowed some packages of cannabis.
He was taken into custody where he subsequently passed 64 packages containing a total of 590gs of the Class B drug.
Peter Avery, from Border Force, said: "Even when, as in this case, the potential rewards are relatively small, some people are still prepared to go to extreme lengths to smuggle illegal drugs on to the UK's streets.
"It is a reminder to those who would buy cannabis of the unpleasant reality of how it is often brought into the UK - inside drugs mules.
"We are serious about tackling the criminals responsible for bringing illegal drugs into Britain and this case should serve as a warning to others."
Artaechevarria had admitted the offence on September 24 when he appeared at Uxbridge Magistrates Court.
http://www.hertsandessexobserver.co.uk 09/11/2012
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