Drug smuggling air steward jailed

The jailed pair arrived at Gatwick separately, two days apart

A British Airways steward has been jailed for 16 years for attempting to smuggle £360,000 worth of cocaine into the UK at Gatwick Airport.

His accomplice in the smuggling plot was given a 17-year jail term when the pair were sentenced on Wednesday.

Stephen Akpabio-Klementowski had arrived at Gatwick after working on a BA flight from Jamaica in June of last year.

The court heard the 38-year-old was carrying a suitcase containing six kilos of cocaine when he was stopped by customs at the Sussex airport.

Akpabio-Klementowski, from Edgar Road in Hounslow, London, told customs officers the suitcase, which was marked with a BA crew identity label with his name on it, was not his.

A greater level of trust is given to and expected from aircrew Duncan Honeyman, HM Customs and Excise

Croydon Crown Court heard his accomplice, Richard Jarrett, 48, a decorator from Wembley in north London, was arrested two days later on arrival at Gatwick, also from Jamaica, following inquiries by Customs and Excise.

Jarrett, of Valley Gardens, Wembley, and Akpabio-Klementowski, claimed they did not know each other, but the trial heard records showed they had exchanged frequent phone calls.

They had also stayed in hotels at the same time in the Caribbean on various occasions over a two-year period, the jury was told.

The pair denied conspiracy to import cocaine but were found guilty on 6 June after a five-week trial.

At Wednesday's sentencing they were both given a travel restriction order banning them from leaving Britain for five years after they are released from prison.

After the sentencing, customs investigator Duncan Honeyman said: "A greater level of trust is given to and expected from aircrew, so the sentences given reflect the betrayal of this trust.

"HM Customs and Excise are committed to protecting our society and this case sends a strong message to all those engaged in drug trafficking, that we will not tolerate their criminal activities"