Father-of-three jailed for six years for smuggling £160,000 of cocaine inside pasties
- Dane Hamilton was searched at Birmingham Airport after arriving on a flight from Jamaica
- Officers discovered a box of Jamaican patties in his hand luggage
- Inside the pasties were packets of cocaine weighing 1.5 kilos
By TARA BRADY PUBLISHED: 14:28 GMT, 2 June 2013 | UPDATED: 15:05 GMT, 2 June 2013
Caught: Dane Hamilton tried to smuggle drugs into the country by hiding wraps cocaine in Jamaican patties
A father-of-three has been jailed for six years after he smuggled £160,000 worth of cocaine into the UK in pasties. Dane Hamilton, 33, was stopped and searched at Birmingham Airport after arriving on a flight from Jamaica on August 2 last year. Officers discovered a box of Jamaican patties, a savoury pasty, in his hand luggage. There were only 10 in the box instead of 12 and when officers examined them further they were found to contain small packets of cocaine instead of a meaty filling. The drugs weighed a total of 1.5 kilos and would have been worth approximately £160,400 if cut and sold on the street. A jury sitting at Birmingham Crown Court unanimously convicted Hamilton, a Jamaican national, of drugs smuggling on Friday following a two-day trial. Sentencing him to six years in prison, Judge Michael Chambers QC said it was a 'sophisticated' crime and others must have been involved. He told him: 'There is a clear inference that you were doing it for substantial gain given the risks you clearly took.'Hamilton, from Wolverhampton, West Midlands, said he had been visiting his mother after paying £1,000 for a ticket and had no idea what was inside the patties.
Jabeen Akhtar, defending, said there was no evidence Hamilton had been involved in any element of the criminal enterprise, other than bringing the drugs to the UK.She added that he had not sought to blame others.
Officers discovered a box of Jamaican patties in Dane Hamilton's hand luggage
When officers pulled apart the pasties they discovered £160,000 of cocaine hidden inside
There were only 10 pasties instead of 12 inside the box when Hamilton was stopped and searched
After sentencing, Dawn Cartwright, from the Border Force, said: 'This was an unusual concealment but our officers are trained to expect the unexpected.'The sentence handed out to Hamilton should serve as a warning to others thinking of smuggling drugs.'You will be caught and you will be sent to jail. Drug smuggling is a vile trade and ruins lives.' Smuggling class A drugs into the UK carries a minimum sentence of three years and six months and a maximum sentence of 16 years under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 and Customs and Excise Management Act 1979.
Haul: Packets of cocaine were found inside pasties when Hamilton was stopped and searched at Birmingham Airport after arriving on a flight from from Jamaica
The drugs weighed a total of 1.5 kilos and would have been worth approximately £160,400 if sold on the street
Caught: Dane Hamilton tried to smuggle drugs into the country by hiding wraps cocaine in Jamaican patties
A father-of-three has been jailed for six years after he smuggled £160,000 worth of cocaine into the UK in pasties. Dane Hamilton, 33, was stopped and searched at Birmingham Airport after arriving on a flight from Jamaica on August 2 last year. Officers discovered a box of Jamaican patties, a savoury pasty, in his hand luggage. There were only 10 in the box instead of 12 and when officers examined them further they were found to contain small packets of cocaine instead of a meaty filling. The drugs weighed a total of 1.5 kilos and would have been worth approximately £160,400 if cut and sold on the street. A jury sitting at Birmingham Crown Court unanimously convicted Hamilton, a Jamaican national, of drugs smuggling on Friday following a two-day trial. Sentencing him to six years in prison, Judge Michael Chambers QC said it was a 'sophisticated' crime and others must have been involved. He told him: 'There is a clear inference that you were doing it for substantial gain given the risks you clearly took.'Hamilton, from Wolverhampton, West Midlands, said he had been visiting his mother after paying £1,000 for a ticket and had no idea what was inside the patties.
Jabeen Akhtar, defending, said there was no evidence Hamilton had been involved in any element of the criminal enterprise, other than bringing the drugs to the UK.She added that he had not sought to blame others.
Officers discovered a box of Jamaican patties in Dane Hamilton's hand luggage
When officers pulled apart the pasties they discovered £160,000 of cocaine hidden inside
There were only 10 pasties instead of 12 inside the box when Hamilton was stopped and searched
After sentencing, Dawn Cartwright, from the Border Force, said: 'This was an unusual concealment but our officers are trained to expect the unexpected.'The sentence handed out to Hamilton should serve as a warning to others thinking of smuggling drugs.'You will be caught and you will be sent to jail. Drug smuggling is a vile trade and ruins lives.' Smuggling class A drugs into the UK carries a minimum sentence of three years and six months and a maximum sentence of 16 years under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 and Customs and Excise Management Act 1979.
Haul: Packets of cocaine were found inside pasties when Hamilton was stopped and searched at Birmingham Airport after arriving on a flight from from Jamaica
The drugs weighed a total of 1.5 kilos and would have been worth approximately £160,400 if sold on the street
