Mexican jailed over cocaine haul

An unemployed baseball player who brought high-purity cocaine with a potential street value of up to £1.28 million into one of the country's busiest airports was jailed for eight years today.

Mexican Juan Guerrero, 37, had more than 2kg of the class A drug in his suitcase when he arrived at Glasgow airport on October 13 last year.

First offender Guerrero, who was in financial difficulties, took on the job to get money to help pay for medical bills and repairs to his family home, the High Court in Edinburgh heard.

The "substantial quantity" of drugs was intended for the hands of dealers in London.

Jailing Guerrero, Judge Lady Smith said she would recommend that he be deported at the end of his sentence.

She told him: "You have pleaded guilty to a very serious drug trafficking offence. The maximum sentence for that offence is one of life imprisonment."

The judge went on: "It is important that it be appreciated that the transportation of drugs into this country is regarded as a very serious matter.

"It is essential given the ongoing pernicious and damaging illegal trade in drugs that the sentences imposed must reflect that fact."