A Nigerian man was jailed for 12 years and fined €50,000 today after admitting in court to having imported nearly a kilo of drugs hidden in capsules in his stomach and his rectum.

In a similar case, a man from Gambia was jailed for 10 years and fined €20,000, after he admitted importing 250 grams hidden in capsules in his stomach.

Both men were arrested separately last August after flying i from Spain.

Chief Justice Vincent DeGaetano in handing down sentence said that the two accused, Joseph Failazu, 32 and Yahye Ceefay, 25, were part of a wider criminal organisation which had used them to achieve its ends, but they were well aware of what they were doing and the consequences of their actions.

The court, however, had noted their early guilty plea.