Horse’s rug used to smuggle cocaine into the country

It’s not a drugs mule; it’s a drugs horse.

An unsuspecting equine was the centre of a plot to smuggle more than £5million worth of pure uncut cocaine into the country, a court heard this month.

Around 10kg of the drug was discovered in the horse’s rug by staff at a yard in Hythe in April 2010.

They had become suspicious when the rug seemed heavier than normal.

And closer inspection revealed specially designed pockets concealing 10 packets of a white powder. The horse had been transported to Kent from Holland.

Emma McCue-Smith, of Scott Street, Manchester, was sentenced to six months in prison at Canterbury Crown Court earlier this month (10 October).

The horse’s owner could not be identified, but McCue-Smith’s phone records linked her with the transportation of the animal.

Detective Constable Dave Friend of Kent and Essex Police said: “This is one of the more novel ways we have seen to transport illegal drugs into the country.

“The transport company used had no knowledge that they were importing a lot more than they had been contracted to do.”

This news story was first published in the current issue of H&H (25 October 2012)

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