A DRUGS mule who swallowed packets of cocaine to get them through Gatwick Airport has been jailed for four years.

Andrew Kadi, of Marshall Drive, Hayes, tried to smuggle 300 grams of the class A drug, worth around £40,000, after flying to the UK from Senegal via Lisbon, Portugal, on September 12.

He was stopped and arrested by UK Border Agency (UKBA) officers at Gatwick's South Terminal, after they detected traces of cocaine on his shoes and baggage.

The Nigerian national was taken to hospital and an X-ray showed that he had 15 packages of cocaine in his stomach.

Kadi, 34, admitted to importing cocaine and was sentenced at Isleworth Crown Court on Friday, October 28.

The UKBA's Pete Avery said: "This case shows the lengths that criminals are prepared to go to in their attempts to get substances like cocaine into Britain."