A Ghanaian woman is starting a 23 year prison sentence after being caught trying to smuggle ?3.8 million worth of cocaine in to Heathrow Airport.
The sentence for Christiana Akyeah, 34, of Accra, Ghana, is believed to be one of the highest served in Britain on an individual passenger caught smuggling drugs.
Akyeah was stopped by Customs officers at the London airport as she flew in from Accra, Ghana, on February 10 this year.
Officers searched her three suitcases and found 38.9 kilos of the hard drug in a number of packages wrapped in black plastic.
Tests revealed the white powder was 80% pure cocaine, Customs spokeswoman Shona Lowe said.
Akyeah was stopped in the green channel of Heathrow's Terminal 3.
During her trial, at Isleworth Crown Court, west London, she said she was a businesswoman and had come to the UK to buy shoes.
She said she had nine children and would not put them at risk by smuggling drugs.
But passing sentence, after being found guilty today, Judge Dangor told Akyeah that by bringing in a massive amount of cocaine she had shown a disregard for other people's children.
