A Gatwick baggage handler has been jailed for seven years for his part in a gang trying to smuggle £1 million of cocaine into Britain in tins of Jamaican vegetables.
Derek Giles, 56, admitted helping the gang get the drug through security checks in tins of Jamaican Pride Callaloo – a spinach-like vegetable dish.
The gang attempted to escape airport detection by classing the luggage as ‘in transfer’ and therefore collected by the transfer baggage handlers.
Police raided Gatwick baggage handler Giles’ home and found a small rucksack with four sealed tins of the popular Jamaican chopped leaf vegetable labelled Jamaican Pride Callaloo in the kitchen.
The five men and two women were jailed for a total of 44 years for either admitting their role or being found guilty in the sophisticated drug smuggling operation at Kingston Crown Court in Surrey on Friday.
Detective Superintendent Jason Hudson, head of operations at Titan – the North West Regional organised crime unit, said: "This was a sophisticated gang with influences in several major UK cities as well as criminal contacts abroad.
"The ringleaders devised a ploy whereby they used couriers to make several flights during the importing of the drugs to ensure their bags remained ‘in transfer’.
"They thought this would avoid detection but clearly they were wrong and law enforcement agencies became wise to their intentions at an early stage."
