Pensioner accused of smuggling £2m rushed to hospital after suffering ‘hypertensive crisis’ 

Suspected cruise ship cocaine smuggler Sue Clarke has reportedly been rushed to hospital from her jail cell after suffering a hypertensive crisis.

The 70-year is said to have been taken to a prison hospital around six miles from the jail near Lisbon where she has been held since December 5 following her health emergency.

Respected Portuguese daily Correio da Manha said she had suffered a hypertensive crisis, which occurs when blood pressure spikes and can cause organ damage.

Her condition was unknown late on Thursday night. Officials could not be reached for comment.

She fell ill at Tires Women’s Prison, the jail where she was remanded in custody on December 5 after being arrested a day earlier on a cruise liner with £2m worth of cocaine when the ship docked at Lisbon Port from the Bahamas.

Her husband Roger, 72, was also held by Portuguese police who boarded MC Marco Polo during the second-to-last stop of their 33-day transatlantic cruise and found nine kilos of the class-A drug in four suitcases in their cabin.

Roger is still being held at a men’s prison in Lisbon. It is unclear whether he has been told about his wife’s 999 transfer.

Roger is said to have bragged to fellow holidaymakers on his £3,000-a-head cruise that they paid just £160 for the four holdalls on the Caribbean island of St Lucia and claimed the luggage would have cost them £1,500 in Harrods.

Portuguese police revealed earlier this week they had intended arresting the couple when the cruise liner docked in the Madeiran capital Funchal from the Bahamas – but had to delay the arrests until it reached Lisbon because bad weather meant the Funchal stop was cancelled.

The couple now live in Guardamar del Segura, Spain according to Ms Clarke’s Facebook account

The elderly couple, who had paid £3,000 each for their Caribbean cruise tickets, were remanded in prison following a court appearance the day after their arrest

They also said it was possible the nine kilos of cocaine they discovered hidden inside false bottoms in the couple’s suitcases were bound for London – as the next stop after Lisbon was the ship’s final destination of Tilbury.

The Policia Judiciaria said in a statement after the arrests: ‘The Policia Judiciaria’s National Drugs Trafficking Unit has identified and arrested a foreign couple who were travelling on a cruise line doing a circuit which took in the Caribbean and Europe.

‘They were arrested on suspicion of international drugs trafficking.

‘The operation, which took place with the support of the Maritime Police, was the result of the permanent exchange of information and cooperation that exists between the PJ and the British forces of law and order, specifically the National Crime Agency.

The elderly pair were jailed after police seized four suitcases full of cocaine from their cabin. Pictured: Cruise liner MS Marco Polo in the harbour of Eidfjord

‘The arrests occurred after the ship had reached Lisbon Port’s cruise terminal and after a search of the cabin the suspects were using, where four suitcases with a high amount of cocaine hidden inside was seized.

‘The suspects, who are aged 70 and 72, were questioned as suspects or arguidos before being remanded in prison.

‘The investigation by the PJ and UK authorities is ongoing.’

The Clarkes lived in Guardamar del Segura near Alicante on the Costa Blanca.

Roger told neighbours he had been jailed in the past after being caught smuggling cigarettes.