Michael Kellar, 58, tried to smuggle £300,000 worth of cocaine into Britain
A drug trafficker has been jailed for 13 years after trying to smuggle £300,000 worth of cocaine into Britain five years after a previous failed drugs run.
Michael Kellar was arrested at Birmingham Airport after tins of dried milk powder containing about 9lbs (4kg) of cocaine were found in his luggage.
The 58-year-old was held by Border Force officers in April after arriving on a flight from Montego Bay in Jamaica.
It was the second time Kellar had been arrested over importing cocaine after he was held in 2012 over the discovery of drugs in a suitcase at London Gatwick.
The suitcase, which had Kellar’s name on it, was found abandoned on the baggage carousel at the airport in March that year, but Kellar was nowhere to be seen.
Officers carried out checks on the suitcase and found tins of fruit punch inside containing 10lbs (4.7kg) of liquid cocaine with a potential street value of £375,000.
Tins of dried milk powder containing about 9lbs of cocaine were found in his luggage in April
Kellar was arrested at Birmingham Airport in April after his luggage was examined (pictured)
The tins (above) were discovered following his arrival on a flight from Montego Bay in Jamaica
Kellar was arrested and questioned over this incident a year later but denied any knowledge.
With no drugs in his possession and the absence of further evidence, he was not charged at the time and later left the country.
But following his arrest in Birmingham this year, he was charged in connection with both importations.
Kellar, of Bilston, Wolverhampton, was found guilty by a jury following a six-day trial – and at Birmingham Crown Court yesterday, he was sentenced to 13 years in prison.
Kellar was previously held over the 2012 discovery of drugs in a suitcase at Gatwick (pictured)
The tins in 2012 (above) contained liquid cocaine with a potential street value of £375,000
The court heard he also had previous convictions for possessing and supplying crack cocaine.
Dawn Cartwright from the National Crime Agency said: ‘Kellar might have thought that he’d got away with the first importation, but he never dropped off our radar and given his criminal history it seemed only a matter of time before he’d try it again.
‘He claimed the fact two consignments of cocaine could be linked to him five years apart was pure coincidence, but clearly the jury looked at the strength of the evidence we put before them, saw through that charade and saw fit to convict him.’
‘Cocaine is a drug which fuels further crime, violence and exploitation so by stopping it reaching the streets and taking out a supplier like Kellar who plays a key part in that organised criminal chain, we have protected the public.’