Stansted: Man jailed for smuggling cocaine in duck ornament

An X-ray of the duck by Border Force officers showed irregularities inside the ornament (right)

A man who smuggled cocaine into the UK by hiding it in a duck ornament flown in from South America, has been jailed.

An X-ray of the ornament at Stansted Airport in Essex in January showed "irregularities", the National Crime Agency (NCA) said.

The package was traced to Aldo Alushi, 29, of no fixed address, who was arrested on 7 January.

He admitted importing Class A drugs and was jailed for six years and three months at Chelmsford Crown Court.

A wooden box containing a hollow, gold-coloured duck ornament was examined by Border Force officers after it arrived on a flight from Cali in Colombia, the NCA said.

Officers drilled holes in the duck, a pink sticky substance leaked out, which tested positive for cocaine and could have been converted into the powdered version of the drug, the agency added.

NCA officers then tracked the package to Harlow in Essex where they arrested Albanian national Alushi at a rented house in Milwards and found he was living in the UK illegally.

Speaking after Alushi pleaded guilty last month, Lydia Bloomfield, branch commander at the NCA, described it as "certainly one of the most unusual attempts to smuggle drugs we've seen".

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