A 40 year-old Ghanaian woman was jailed for 15 years at Croydon Crown Court on Wednesday for smuggling 12 kilos of cocaine into the UK. The drugs had an estimated street value of £612,000.

A 40 year-old Ghanaian woman was jailed for 15 years at Croydon Crown Court on Wednesday for smuggling 12 kilos of cocaine into the UK. The drugs had an estimated street value of £612,000.

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) Senior Business Manager at Gatwick, Paul Stephenson said:

"HM Revenue & Customs officers have prevented a large amount of cocaine hitting the streets of the UK. The custodial sentence being imposed sends out a clear message to those wanting to profit from smuggling class A drugs".

The court heard that on 27 July 2005, seamstress Angela Quarcoo and her two children arrived at Gatwick Airport's North Terminal on a flight from Accra, Ghana. A drugs sniffer dog gave a positive indication on her baggage and a search by Customs revealed that it contained a total of twelve packages containing cocaine. When Quarcoo was asked what the packages contained she replied: "food stuff". Quarcoo was arrested, interviewed and subsequently charged with smuggling the drug.

This case was successfully prosecuted by the Revenue and Customs Prosecutions Office (RCPO). RCPO is an independent prosecuting authority, which reports to the Attorney General, and is responsible for the prosecution of all HMRC cases in England and Wales.