Two Britons guilty of canine cocaine smuggling bid

Two Britons were found guilty yesterday of an elaborate plot to smuggle cocaine by surgically implanting packets of the drug inside two Labrador dogs.

Gregory Graham, 27, and Kaye Chapman, 20, plotted to smuggle 1.3 kilogramme of cocaine into Britain hidden inside the stomachs of golden Labrador Rex (picture) and black Labrador Frispa.

But officials at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport, the transit point from Colombia to London, alerted vets because Rex was lively yet Frispa lay apathetically.

Vets removed 11 packets from Rex and 10 from Frispa, who later died - one of them had burst - and British police were alerted to wait for people coming to fetch the dogs.

Gregory and Chapman were convicted at Norwich Crown Court of conspiracy to import drugs. Two other co-accused were cleared.