Mexican baseball player flew into Scotland with cocaine

At the High Court in Glasgow, Mexican Juan Guerrero, 37, admitted smuggling the drug, which was 89 per cent pure, into Scotland in his suitcase on 13 October last year.

Advocate depute Jennifer Bain, prosecuting, said: "Around 8:20am a UK Border Agency (UKBA) officer was requested to intercept the accused.

"This request was made by other officers who were suspicious because he was travelling alone under a new passport, and had flown from Tuscon via Houston and Newark to Glasgow."

The court heard that Guerrero, a first offender, was stopped at baggage control and asked if he had packed his suitcase and admitted he had.

When asked if there were any drugs in the suitcase, he shrugged. It was noted that when the UKBA officers removed his clothes and personal belongings from the case it was still very heavy.

It was X-rayed and this showed that items were concealed in the lid and the base of the case. An interpreter was called in and Guerrero was asked if he was carrying any drugs in his body. He replied that he had never taken drugs or smoked, and was not carrying any drugs within his body.

A search revealed that he had $1,940 in his possession. The court was told that the lid and suitcase base were ripped open and five silver foil-wrapped packages were removed.

These were found to consist of several layers. The first was silver foil, the second was black oil, the third was carbon paper and the fourth was a layer of plastic.

Inside the plastic layer there was a quantity of white-coloured foam which had a strong chemical smell. A sample of the foam was examined and found to contain cocaine. In total, the foam Guerrero had been transporting contained 2,105g of cocaine, which would have been extracted from the substance.

Ms Bain said: "If this was converted into cocaine hydro- chloride, it would weigh approximately 2,365g of 89 per cent pure cocaine.

"The purity of the cocaine is far in excess of the UK national average purity of between 13 per cent and 26 per cent.

"Experts consulted in relation to what the ultimate street purity of these particular drugs would be, were unable to give any definitive opinion.

"They were able to say that if the drugs were subdivided into the lowest common street deal, being a one-gram deal, they would have the potential to realise between 320,000 and 640,000.

"The average street purity in the west of Scotland is estimated to be between 5 and 6 per cent, and if the cocaine was adulterated to this level its potential street value would be more than double, that is 640,000 and 1.28 million."

Judge Lady Smith told Guerrero: "The offence you have been convicted of is a very, very serious one. Before sentencing you to what inevitably be a term of imprisonment I require to get background reports."She deferred sentence until March. Solicitor advocate John McElroy, defending, will give his plea in mitigation then.