Tory MP held at gunpoint and made to eat whitener

Published on Friday 5 September 2008 23:00

A CONSERVATIVE MP trekking in Colombia was held at gunpoint in the jungle and forced to eat coffee whitener from a jar in his backpack after soldiers mistook it for cocaine.

Michael Fabricant was on a walking holiday in South America with a friend when they were stopped by a group of armed men in camouflage uniforms.

The soldiers found a container full of coffee whitener in their bags and suspected it was drugs. The MP for Lichfield and Burntwood in Staffordshire was on a trekking holiday in the South American country – notorious for its cocaine trade – during the summer recess last month.

Mr Fabricant yesterday said: "I'm a Conservative MP for a small sleepy city in Staffordshire, I'm not exactly the archetypal cocaine baron. It was hairy stuff, there were seven heavily-armed men on a foot patrol who approached us as we were walking along a jungle trail.

"I knew Colombia could be a little dangerous as there is kidnapping and a major drug industry. But I was in a range of mountains north-east of Santa Marta on the coast, which is not generally considered to be drug-baron country and is relatively safer than the inland areas.

"The soldiers searched through my bag and pulled out a clear container containing some white powder, which was nothing more than powdered milk."