Cocaine worth more than £65,000 was found in a pair of shoes after customs officers stopped a man at Harwich.
A total of 1.3 kilos of the drug were found after the shoes were X-rayed, a court heard.
Louis Berkhof, 41, told customs he knew the shoes contained drugs and thought it was cannabis, Chelmsford Crown Court hear
But Judge John Richards ruled Berkhof knew he was carrying cocaine after hearing evidence from customs and Berkhof. The 41-year-old, of Rotterdam, was jailed for nine years after he admitted a charge of smuggling.
The court heard Berkhof was stopped after arriving on a ferry from The Hoek on January 17 this year. A search revealed just under 1.3 kilos of cocaine with a street value of £67,54 in his shoes.
Simon Butcher, mitigating, said Berkhof was deeply in debt and had attempted to smuggle the drugs to help pay off what he owed.
Published Friday, February 25, 2005
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