A 23-year-old woman has been jailed after attempting to smuggle £800,000 worth of crack cocaine into the UK – hidden inside a hollowed-out wheel of Parmesan cheese.
US national Jamie Choi, from California, was stopped by Border Force officers at Heathrow Airport on May 25 after arriving on a flight from Brazil. When questioned about the 8kg cheese wheel she was carrying, Choi claimed a friend had suggested she buy it in Lima, Peru, for them to try. But upon inspection, officers discovered it was stuffed with crack cocaine.
Forensic analysis revealed the drug was 94% pure, with an estimated street value of £800,000. The National Crime Agency (NCA) traced Choi’s journey, which began in Los Angeles on May 20, taking her through Lima, Peru, then Asuncion, Paraguay, before she flew via São Paulo, Brazil, to London.
A notebook found in her handbag contained a handwritten note dated May 21 – the day she left Lima – stating she had “dropped out of UCSB” and was “solo travelling in South America for the first time.”
Choi pleaded guilty to importing Class A drugs at Isleworth Crown Court on August 6 and was sentenced on August 12 to five years and three months in prison.
NCA senior investigating officer Barry Vinall said: “We’ve seen drugs hidden in all sorts of everyday items, but Border Force and the NCA are highly experienced in finding them. Smuggling drugs into the UK is not worth the risk – the consequences are clear.”
Her case comes just weeks after three British nationals narrowly avoided the death penalty in Indonesia for smuggling cocaine into Bali in Angel Delight packets. The trio, all from East Sussex, were instead given 12-month prison sentences after admitting their offences and showing “polite behaviour” in court.
