Cocaine smuggler jailed after 'invisibility cloak' fails

A Spanish man, who wrapped cocaine in carbon paper in an attempt to dodge x-ray detection, has been jailed for six years at Antrim Crown Court.

Carlos Gutierrez Lopez attempted to smuggle 1.3 kilos of cocaine into Northern Ireland in August 2008.

The 46-year-old was stopped at Belfast International Airport as he arrived on a flight from Amsterdam.



Customs officers searched his luggage and found the cocaine, worth about £500,000, in the lining of a suitcase. The package had been covered with carbon paper in an attempt to hide it from x-ray detection.

"Mr Lopez has discovered the hard way that carbon paper doesn't provide a cloak of invisibility from detection," said John Whiting of HMRC.

"However, this case does demonstrate that together our continuing successes are forcing the smugglers into ever more desperate, if unsuccessful, methods for concealment."