Stansted border agents find cocaine inside statue of golden duck

A man was arrested in Essex after being caught smuggling cocaine inside a statue of a golden duck.National Crime Agency officers traced a suspicious package to an address in Harlow after it had been seized by Border Force at Stansted Airport.

The wooden box containing a hollow gold-coloured duck statue aroused suspicion and officers drilled holes to see inside.

A pink sticky substance leaked out and drug test revealed it was cocaine.

A search of Alushi’s rented bedroom led to five mobile phones and a variety of identity documents in different names.

He had been living illegally in the UK and initially said the statue did not belong to him.

Alushi claimed he received the parcel on behalf of another Albanian man who had helped him get into the country.He pleaded guilty in court to importing drugs into the UK and will be sentenced next month.

Lydia Bloomfield, branch commander at the NCA, said: “This is certainly one of the most unusual attempts to smuggle drugs we’ve seen, and it shows the lengths that organised crime groups are willing to go in an attempt to avoid detection."

She added: "The cocaine trade fuels significant further criminality, most notably serious violence, both upstream where the drug is sourced and here on the streets of the UK. Our work with partners like Border Force is key to disrupting class A supply chains and dismantling those groups behind the trade."

Martin Hendy, deputy director of Border Force for Central Region, added: "Drug supply chains are violent and exploitative, degrading neighbourhoods across our country. Border Force’s work with the NCA to stop drugs entering the UK is a core part of the Government’s 10-yeardrug strategy to cut crime and save lives.

"Those involved can be proud of their work and particularly those officers that intercepted and stopped this harmful drug from entering our communities."