Drugs mule caught with £5m coke stash

‘All I've brought from Mexico are these sombreros’

- By Richard Elias and Dave Finlay

A DRUGS mule who flew into Scotland from Mexico was caught with cocaine worth £5million after telling customs officers all he had brought back were four sombreros.

Kristopher Purvis, who used mustard to disguise the smell of the drugs, was yesterday jailed for 10 years.

Purvis, 35, was stopped at Edinburgh Airport last July after flying from Mexico City via Paris.

At the Customs check area, he and a travelling companion made for the green Nothing to Declare channel. But they were stopped by Border Force officers.

Advocate depute Brian Gill KC told the hearing: “He (Purvis) said that the only thing that he had acquired in Mexico was the sombreros.”

The defendant had a plastic bag containing four of the multi-coloured Mexican hats. He and his companion each had a large black suitcase.

Stupid

A search of Purvis’ suitcase revealed eight vacuum-sealed plastic packages each covered in a strong-smelling substance like mustard.