A DUDLEY woman has been jailed for almost three years after she was caught attempting to smuggle cocaine into the UK.

Shantel Bailey, aged 33, of Purlin Way, was initially arrested at Gatwick Airport on October 26 2011, having arrived into the airport on a flight from Montego Bay in Jamaica.

Border Force officers carried out swab tests on the shoes she was wearing which tested positive for cocaine.

A further search of her person was conducted and a package containing around 250 grammes of white powder, which had been concealed internally, was recovered.

Forensic tests revealed it was cocaine which would have had an estimated value of around £26,000 if cut and sold on the street.

Bailey was bailed but she did not answer a court summons and on October 30 last year, investigators from the National Crime Agency’s Border Policing Command re-arrested her.

She pleaded guilty to attempting to import a class A drug and on Wednesday (January 15) at Croydon Crown Court and was sentenced to 32 months in prison.

Border Force South regional director, Carole Upshall, said: “This case demonstrates the desperate lengths that smugglers will resort to in their attempts to bring class A drugs into the UK.

“Border Force officers are at the forefront of the fight to stop illegal drugs and other contraband crossing our border.”