Drug smuggler disguised cocaine as chocolate bars

The chocolate bars contained cocaine with an estimated street value of between £368,870 and £614,750

A woman has been sentenced to five years in jail after she attempted to smuggle cocaine disguised as chocolate.

Diana Bowmen, 26, from London, pleaded guilty to importing 2.459kg (5.4lb) of cocaine to Jersey in June.

Customs officers said they searched her bags after she disembarked from the Stena Vinga ferry from Portsmouth for a weekend stay in a St Helier hotel.

The Jersey Customs and Immigration Service said officers found 11 bars of chocolate and seven of these contained compressed cocaine which had an estimated street value of between £368,870 and £614,750.

Bowmen had told customs officers she would be taking the bars of chocolate back to the UK to melt down and make a cake with her nieces, said the service.

Senior manager Paul Le Monnier said: "This was an ingenious method to disguise a significant amount of cocaine and not one that we have seen before.

"It also clearly shows a level of sophistication of those organising this importation but fortunately, the vigilance of our officers prevented these drugs from reaching our streets."