Drug smuggler jailed
24.01.09
A Mexican caught trying to smuggle drugs worth almost £1m into Scotland via Edinburgh Airport has been jailed for 4 years and 8 months, as a judge issued a warning to other potential couriers.
Noe Machado, 40, arrived at the airport after flying from Mexico via Paris with his wife and 4 children on November 10 last year. The family was stopped as he went through the ‘nothing to declare’ channel.
Customs officials noticed a number of irregular shapes when his laptop bag was put through an X-ray machine for a random check, and 3 packages were found. Further packages were discovered when the rest of his luggage was checked, and a total of 16kg of cocaine was found.
The High Court in Edinburgh heard that the drugs had a street value of £960,000, making the seizure the largest ever single haul of cocaine in Lothian. Mr Machado admitted the illegal importation of cocaine and was jailed for almost 5 years.
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