Woman jailed for smuggling cocaine in toiletries

A WOMAN who tried to smuggle cocaine worth £1 million into the UK inside toiletries has been jailed for seven years.

The cocaine found in her toiletries. Picture: Contributed

Myrtle McCreath, 53, of Ayr, was arrested at Glasgow airport on 26 February last year after arriving on a flight from Sao Paulo via Amsterdam.

During a search of her baggage, Border Force officers found around 50 containers of face cream, talcum powder and other toiletries. Inside there was a total of 7.8kg of high purity cocaine.

McCreath denied knowledge of the drugs, telling National Crime Agency (NCA) border investigators that she had been in Brazil for a week on holiday.

But messages found on her mobile phone showed that she had been given a suitcase to carry back to the UK, and was due to take a train to Manchester where she would hand it over.

Officers also discovered that she had been paid €1000 (£710) just days before travelling and had been paid a similar sum for a return trip to Australia via China a few months earlier.

She was found guilty of importing class A drugs following a trial at Glasgow High Court in October and was sentenced yesterday.

John McGowan, from the NCA border investigation team at the Scottish Crime Campus, Gartcosh, said: “Using individuals like Myrtle McCreath is a common tactic for the organised crime networks involved in this illegal trade, which is why we are working with law enforcement partners such as Border Force to do all we can to disrupt and bring them to justice.”

Murdo MacMillan, head of Border Force Scotland, added: “This case should serve as a warning.”