A Thamesmead drug runner who swallowed more than £400,000 worth of cocaine before trying to smuggle it into the country on a passenger flight, has been jailed.

Kwame Raymond, 42, of Warrior Close, was stopped by Border Force officers at Stansted Airport on January 17 after he arrived on a flight from Amsterdam.

He claimed to have been visiting the Netherlands to attend a funeral but when questioned he admitted swallowing around one hundred packages containing drugs.

Forensic tests later revealed the packages contained around 2.2kg of cocaine, which if cut and sold on the streets in the UK would have had an estimated value of around £421,000.

Following an investigation by the National Crime Agency’s Border Policing Command, Raymond pleaded guilty to drug trafficking charges.

At a hearing at Isleworth Crown Court on Monday he was sentenced to five years in prison.

Border Force regional director Phillip Holliday said: "This case shows the lengths smugglers will go to in their attempts to bring class A drugs into the UK.

"Those who swallow packages like this are risking their lives. If any one of those packages had split it could have been fatal.

"Border Force officers are on the front line of the fight to stop illegal drugs like cocaine making it onto the UK’s streets."