(BBC) Drugs smuggled from the Caribbean concealed in peanuts and cashew and bottles of Bailey’s are some of the novel methods traffickers have used to get their illicit product into Britain.
The UK Border Agency has been revealing details of the ploys of drug traffickers.
In one of the most unusual cases overall, smugglers tried to hide cannabis worth about $4,600 in a painting of African footballer Emmanuel Adebayor, who plays in the Englsih Premier league.
The wooden framed picture from Togo was seized as it passed through a postal sorting office in the British city, Coventry.
The painting of the Manchester City star was addressed to a property in Tottenham.
The UK Border Agency has revealed details of the find and others to highlight the ploys of drug traffickers.
Sniffer dogs
Officials have also intercepted stashes of drugs hidden in woven baskets, and packets of yams that had been opened and glued back together.
Brodie Clark, head of Border Force, said the concealed drugs were all found during searches at ports, airports and postal sorting depots last year.
He said: “Criminals are prepared to invest large sums of money to come up with ever better concealment methods because they know the potential profits from the awful trade in harmful drugs are considerable.
“However, the smugglers are no match for the skill of our officers and the state-of-the-art technology at their disposal.”
Caribbean attempts
In one case, 1.1 kilos of cocaine was found in concealed in packets of peanuts and cashew nuts in freight at London’s Gatwick Airport.
The drugs had been sent from Jamaica – the find led to a 50-year-old man being jailed for seven years.
In another incident, a 45 year old self-employed mechanic from Trinidad and Tobago was arrested shortly after he arrived at Gatwick last month.
He was detained after a kilo of liquid cocaine was found inside two bottles of Baileys he was carrying.
Unusual luggage
Other parcels included glass ornaments in which air pockets had been stuffed with cocaine and a Belfast-bound birthday card holding cocaine worth over $60,000.
Border staff use a range of methods and specialist equipment to detect drugs being smuggled into Britain.
Sniffer dogs are trained to identify certain drugs and cash while x-ray machines can reveal unusual luggage or parcels.
A low-dose radiation body-scanner can be used to detect whether mules have swallowed or stashed packets of drugs and officials also act on tip-offs.
