A would-be drug smuggler was caught at Manchester Airport with almost £900,000 worth of cocaine hidden in a mobility scooter.

Casimiro De Lemos-Francisco, 56, was stopped with the huge load after arriving at Manchester on a flight from Barbados. Manchester Crown Court heard that De Lemos-Francisco actually had no issues with his mobility, and that the scooter was being used as a way of attempting to smuggle class A drugs into the country.

But he was caught, and has now been sentenced to six years and nine months in prison. Prosecuting, Mark Monaghan said that De Lemos-Francisco, who is Portuguese, was stopped at Manchester Airport by Border Force officers on March 30, after arriving on a flight from Bridgetown, the capital city of Barbados.

“He was using an electric scooter,” Mr Mon

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