Pic: dannyman

A Croydon man has been jailed for six years for attempting to smuggle £35,000 worth of cocaine into the UK through Gatwick Airport.

Mark Richard Nelson, 48, a musician from Russell Hill Place, Purley, was sentenced at Isleworth Crown Court on Thursday August 2 after admitting to importing a controlled drug.

Border Force officers stopped Nelson at Gatwick Airport’s south terminal on 14 May 2012 after arriving on a flight from St Lucia. A body x-ray revealed the possible presence of swallowed packages and he eventually produced 64 packages of cocaine, weighing in at 420 grams.

Peter Avery, of Border Force, said: “The concealment technique used by this individual shows the lengths to which some people will go in attempt to avoid detection by our officers.”

“Let this case serve as a warning to those who may think they can elude our controls, we have the ability to detect and bring you to justice.”

The conviction comes less than 6 weeks after the jailing of a drug smuggling gang on June 22, in one of the UK’s largest ever cocaine seizures.

Anyone with information about activity they suspect may be linked to drug smuggling can call the UK Border Agency’s smuggling hotline on 0800 59 5000.