A Blackheath woman has been charged with smuggling more than £20 million of cocaine and crystal meth into the UK from Mexico.

According to the National Crime Agency, Spanish national 32 year-old Olivia Anton-Altamirano was arrested at her home in Charlton Road on Friday, May 18 on suspicion of smuggling 259kg of drugs in an industrial fruit processing machine.

It is believed the drugs were brought into London Gateway Port in Essex on March 17 before Border Force officers stopped the machine.

Officers then found the drugs, thought to be worth £22 million on the street, hidden inside the machine.

John Coles, head of specialist operations at the NCA, said: "Here we have a potentially lucrative plot by organised criminals to smuggle 259kg of Class A drugs into the UK, which would have eventually found itself being sold on the streets of London."

The announcement of the seizure came after security minister Ben Wallace warned the UK is "fast becoming the biggest consumer of cocaine in Europe."

Anton-Altamirano is due to appear at Kingston Crown Court on June 7.