Dope rope: Cocaine worth £500,000 seized from Gatwick Airport
Rope used to secure a pallet that was seized at Gatwick Airport (Picture: PA)
Cocaine with an estimated street value of more than £500,000 has been found hidden in rope.
The drugs were seized at Gatwick in what investigators have described as a ‘sophisticated’ bid to smuggle 28lb (13kg) of cocaine through the West Sussex airport.
The rope concealing the Class A drug was used to secure a pallet of imported food, including yams, sweet potatoes, avocados and soursop, which arrived on a flight from Jamaica.
But when Border Force officers examined the tubular rope closely last Thursday, they found it was stuffed with high purity cocaine.
Officers described the smuggling method as sophisticated (Picture: SWNS)
Border Force south regional director Carole Upshall said: ‘As this seizure shows, smugglers often employ sophisticated methods, this time using the external rope packaging to try to conceal the drugs.
The pallet was carrying food (Picture: SWNS)
‘But our officers are on constant alert at the borders to prevent the trade in drugs like cocaine and stop it from reaching the streets.’
The drugs had a street value of £500,000 (Picture: SWNS)
She said Border Force officials were working with the National Crime Agency to try to trace the organised crime gangs behind the smuggling bid.
