Heathrow smuggler convicted

A woman from Mexico was sent to jail on Friday for drug smuggling. She received a sentence of nine and a half years.

The sentencing was the result of a drug discovery at Heathrow Airport in early March. Police found nine kilograms of cocaine strapped to the bodies of two children. The drugs are estimated to be worth £360,000.

Elisa Vazquez Sanchez was travelling with the two children when they were stopped Heathrow’s Terminal 4. The trio had arrived on a British Airways flight from Mexico on March 11th.

Judge Jonathan Lowen, presiding over the Isleworth Crown Court in London, told the 40-year-old woman that she should be ashamed of herself for her actions and for involving children in her crime. Both children are currently in the care of social services.

The judge recommended Sanchez’s deportation following the completion of her sentence.

Assistant director of criminal investigation at HM Revenue and Customs, Peter Avery, said: “The use of such young children in the smuggling of drugs demonstrates the ruthless nature of those criminal gangs involved in the illegal drugs trade.”

Britain’s ports have seen an increase in the level of drug smuggling coming into Britain by boat this year as airport security intensifies.

www.britishairways.com