An air stewardess who was caught trying to
smuggle a quarter of a million pounds
worth of cocaine into the UK has been jailed
for five and a half years.
Chinwendu Uwakaonyenma Ogbonnaya, 29,
from Lagos in Nigeria had flown into
London’s Heathrow airport as a member of
crew on an Arik Air flight from Lagos on 18
December 2011.
During searches by UK Border Agency
officers at the airport’s crew clearance
facility, searches of her luggage revealed
that she was carrying a rucksack with a
false back.
Officers discovered packages of cocaine
hidden behind the false back.
Forensic tests later showed the packages
contained approximately two kilos of high
purity cocaine, which if cut and sold on the
UK streets would have had a value of around
£250,000.
Ogbonnaya claimed that she had been given
the bag by a friend and that she was
unaware it contained drugs.
However, she later pleaded guilty to
attempting to import a class A drug, and a
judge at Isleworth Crown Court in west
London today (Thursday 2 February)
sentenced her to five and a half years in
prison.
She will also face deportation at the end of
her sentence.
Assistant director Pete Avery, from the UK
Border Agency’s Criminal and Financial
Investigation Team, said:
“The cocaine found here was of a very high
purity and there is no doubt that had this
woman not been stopped it would’ve ended
up being cut and sold on the streets of
London.
“Ogbonnaya sought to abuse her position
as a crew member by bringing these drugs
in. As a result she now faces a long time
away from home and behind bars.
“UK Border Agency officers are on constant
alert to keep class A drugs and other
banned substances out of the UK and take
them out of the supply chain before they
reach the streets.”
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