British student ‘faces long stretch in hellhole jail for drug smuggling in Colombia’
A British student has been arrested after attempting to smuggle more than ‘10,000 doses’ of cocaine out of Colombia – disguised as milk powder.
Fahad Uddin Ahmed, 25, was stopped while trying to board a plane to London, after officers discovered the packets of powdered milk.
He was then made to pose in front of the haul, alongside two officers who helped detect the class-A drug.
The exact weight and value of the cocaine seized by officers is not known, though officers have claimed Ahmed had 10,000 doses on him.
A police spokesman said: ‘He was carrying cocaine disguised as milk. It was detected when his luggage was searched at Alfonso Bonilla Aragon Airport by officers stationed at the airport working with immigration officers.
‘It was approximately 10,000 doses.’
Those arrested on suspicion of drug smuggling in Colombia can be jailed for eight to 20 years.
It’s unknown what prison Ahmed will be sent to, but he was arrested in the Valle del Cauca region of Colombia, which is home to one of the worst prisons in the country.
Villahermosa Prison in Cali, Valle del Cauca, holds nearly 7,000 inmates – but only has a capacity for 1,667 people.
There is one shower and one toilet for every 200 inmates and shortages of medication and medical treatment.
Last October, a British model was arrested for attempting to smuggle 3kg of cocaine on a flight from Lima to London.
Modou Adams, 25, was seen reacting in horror as his bag was searched at the Jorge Chavez International Airport before he was handcuffed and taken to face justice.
Famously, the Peru Two, Michaella McCollum from Dungannon, Northern Ireland, and Melissa Reid from Lenzie, Scotland, were arrested in 2013 on suspicion of drug smuggling from Peru after their luggage had 11 kilos of cocaine inside.
They initially claimed they had been coerced by an armed gang but subsequently pleaded guilty. On December 17, 2013, the pair were sentenced to six years and eight months’ imprisonment.
In early 2016, both women sought to return to the United Kingdom.
McCollum applied to be freed on parole and was released on March 31 , 2016, with the prospect of having to remain in Peru for up to six years.
In April 2016 the Peruvian authorities agreed to expel Reid from the country.
She was released from prison on June 21 that year and immediately returned to Britain, arriving at Glasgow airport the following day.
McCollum returned to Europe two months later, arriving at Dublin airport in Ireland on August 13, 2016. She later wrote a book about her experiences titled ‘You’ll Never See Daylight Again.’
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