A 23-year-old man who brought half a kilogramme of cocaine to Malta hidden in his stomach and underwear was jailed for eight years today. He was also fined €4,500.

Rachyd Curiel arrived on a flight from Amsterdam in 2008 and was caught by alert Customs officers at the airport who noticed that he was acting suspiciously.

Mr Curiel had told the police that he was meant to receive €1,500 for his involvement in the operation and had planned to meet a certain person named Mike at the airport upon his arrival on October 19, 2008.

However this plan was foiled by the customs officers who found 11 capsules in his underwear and a further 32 capsules inside his stomach amounting to 421.71 grams of the drug with a purity of 46 per cent.

According to the prosecution, the drugs were worth anything between €28,250 and €44,195.

Mr Curiel admitted to conspiring to traffic the drug, importing it and possession of the drug in circumstances which denotes it was not for his exclusive use.

Mr Justice Michael Mallia jailed him for eight years and fined €4,500 after taking his admission into consideration.

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