This is the moment Colombian police pounce on a suspected British cocaine smuggler and find two kilos of the drug hidden under a Mexican sombrero in his suitcase as he tries to leave the country.
Cops watched the white powder turn a giveaway blue after doing a colour test at Cartagena’s international airport before marching him off for a mugshot.
The illegal contents of his luggage, found in a false bottom, had been laid out in front of him by a sign saying ‘COCAINA’ in capital letters.
The arrest happened as the unnamed traveller tried to board a flight to Panama although he was planning to travel from there to Istanbul and investigators are trying to establish the final destination of the drugs.
The Brit was picked out by police as he went through an X-ray scanner with the suitcase at Rafael Nunez International Airport which serves the port city of Cartagena on Colombia’s Caribbean coast.
This is the moment Colombian police pounce on a suspected British cocaine smuggler and find two kilos of the drug hidden under a Mexican sombrero in his suitcase as he tries to leave the country
The Brit was made to stand between two armed officers for his mugshot in an expensive Dsquared2 designer T-shirt following the discovery of the drugs
The illegal contents of his luggage, found in a false bottom, had been laid out in front of him by a sign saying ‘COCAINA’ in capital letters
He was asked in English through an interpreter if it was his luggage before it was opened in front of him.
He was made to stand between two armed officers for his mugshot in an expensive Dsquared2 designer T-shirt following the discovery of the drugs.
It was not immediately clear last night if he has already appeared before a judge to be remanded in custody pending an ongoing investigation.
Four weeks ago a Scottish man was held after two kilos of cocaine were also found in his suitcase as he tried to fly out of the same airport.
Ricky Grant Courage, 32, from Aberdeen, was planning to fly back to the UK with the drugs via Amsterdam. He is currently being held in a hellhole local prison on remand.
It is not known if the two cases could be linked.
In April a British student was arrested after being caught smuggling cocaine disguised as milk out of Colombia.
The Brit was picked out by police as he went through an X-ray scanner with the suitcase at Rafael Nunez International Airport which serves the port city of Cartagena on Colombia’s Caribbean coast
Cops watched the white powder turn a giveaway blue after doing a colour test at Cartagena’s international airport before marching him off for a mugshot
The 25-year-old was stopped as he tried to board a plane to London from Alfonso Bonilla Aragon International Airport near the city of Cali.
Officers opened up the packets of powdered milk he was carrying in front of him before doing a drug colour test at the airport to confirm they contained the illegal class-A substance.
The Brit, named locally as Fahad Uddin Ahmed and described as a student, was made to pose in front of his illegal drugs stash by Colombian police before being taken away prisoner.
Local reports at the time said the plane he was planning to board was bound for London with a connection in the German city of Frankfurt.
He is said to have been carrying the cocaine inside four bags, marked Klim, in his hand luggage.
Last October a British model who flaunted his jet set lifestyle on social media was jailed for seven years in Peru after being caught trying to fly out of the country with POUNDS 300,000 worth of cocaine.
Londoner Modou Dodou Adams wowed his thousands of social media fans with his trendsetting looks and VIP globetrotting under the self-styled moniker of ‘boywholives’ in a show of excess branded by authorities as a front for his criminal activities.
His apparent world of glamour was left in tatters after he confessed to being a drug trafficker and was told he now faces the next six years and eight months in a hellhole South American jail.
Adams, 25, was held at Lima’s international airport as he tried to check in for a flight to London via Paris with almost three kilos of cocaine in his suitcase.
He was handed his sentence in a quickie trial 24 hours after his arrest by the same police force that held Michaella McCollum and Melissa Reid, the so-called Peru Two in August 2013.
It was not immediately clear last night if he has already appeared before a judge to be remanded in custody pending an ongoing investigation
The Peru Two, Michaella McCollum from Dungannon, Northern Ireland, and Melissa Reid from Lenzie, Scotland, were arrested on 6 August 2013 on suspicion of drug smuggling at Jorge Chávez International Airport, Lima, Peru, after their luggage was found to contain 11 kilos of cocaine.
They initially claimed they had been coerced by an armed gang but subsequently pleaded guilty. On 17 December 2013, the pair were sentenced to six years and eight months’ imprisonment.
In early 2016, both women sought to return to the United Kingdom.
McCollum applied to be freed on parole and was released on 31 March 2016, with the prospect of having to remain in Peru for up to six years.
In April 2016 the Peruvian authorities agreed to expel Reid from the country.
She was released from prison on 21 June that year and immediately returned to Britain, arriving at Glasgow airport the following day.
McCollum returned to Europe two months later, arriving at Dublin airport in Ireland on 13 August 2016. She later wrote a book about her experiences titled ‘You’ll Never See Daylight Again.’
