Eight Guidelines You Should Follow if You're Going to Take Drugs at a Show

[CLICKHEREx]

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/smugglers-cove-check-out-bizarre-4023606

• Aug 08, 2014 12:15
• By John Kelly

Anti-smuggling bosses say officers have seen "every trick in the book" but the scams are getting more and more sophisticated

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These pictures show the desperate depths smugglers will sink to in an attempt to get illegal goods into the country.

From iguanas in socks to Class A drugs in sweets and chocolate bars, the smugglers stop at nothing in their determination to make money out of misery.

Most of the scams involve drugs where huge profits are to be made.

Smuggler Thottapuram Thomas was jailed for four and a half years after he had the cheek to use a portrait of former South African President Nelson Mandela to hide 4lbs (1.85kg) of cocaine -worth £380,000 - behind the picture.

Severely disabled Daniel Roque Hall was jailed for three and a half years in 2012 after being found with £370,000 worth of cocaine hidden inside the padded seat of his wheelchair.

Border Force officials have also released photographs showing how smugglers tried to conceal illegal drugs inside Snickers chocolate bars, lollipops, carpets and even a chapatti oven!

Flickr/UK Home Office

Cheeky monkeys: These two statues were filled with opium!

Sir Charles Montgomery, director general of the agency tasked with protecting Britain’s border, said officers had seen “virtually every trick in the book" but were facing increasingly sophisticated smuggling techniques.

He said: “As these pictures show, smugglers are trying increasingly sophisticated methods and we need to stay one step ahead.

“Fortunately our officers have seen virtually every trick in the book.

“Border Force is the first line of defence in protecting the UK from serious and organised crime.

“The skill and experience of our officers helps keep drugs and other illegal goods out of the country and off our streets.”

Flickr/UK Home Office

Illegal: Endangered iguana from Bahamas found in a sock

Other recent cases include 4.5lbs (2kg) of opium worth £20,000 discovered inside two monkey statues in a parcel at the Coventry International Postal Hub while Iranian Amir Rahnama got six years after 22lbs (10kg) of opium was found in pots of hair product.

Meanwhile a consignment of children’s lollipops was intercepted by Border Force officers working in Ghana in September 2012. The sweets concealed 9lbs (4kg) of cocaine with a street value of £200,000.

Earlier that year, Ivan Sacido, from Madrid, was jailed for five years after sniffer dogs at Gatwick Airport discover 4.5lbs (2kg) of high-purity cocaine worth £550,000 inside Snickers chocolate bars.

But it is not just drugs that attract smugglers. In February this year two women flying from the Bahamas were stopped at Heathrow airport with 13 endangered San Salvador rock iguanas stuffed into socks in their luggage.

One of the reptiles died in transit. The two Romanian women were jailed for a year.

Another case of wildlife smuggling saw nine grey Francolin birds hidden inside a suitcase - their skeletons showing up on X-ray images.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/smugglers-cove-check-out-bizarre-4023606#ixzz39y9O7xVx

[Francois le Danque]

so where are these guidelines?...