Cricket:Former England bowler Chris Lewis was jailed today for 13 years for smuggling more than £140,000 (€158,000) worth of cocaine into Britain inside his cricket bag.
The 41-year-old, who played county cricket for Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Surrey, hid the drug in liquid form in five tins of fruit and vegetable juice.
But his plans went awry when he was stopped by customs officers at Gatwick Airport following what he claimed was an innocent holiday in St Lucia.
His co-accused, Chad Kirnon, 27, was also found with three tins of dissolved cocaine in his luggage and was also sentenced to 13 years in prison today.
The court heard that the two men, who claimed to be travelling alone, were picked up independently when they arrived at Gatwick just after 5am on December 8th, last year.
Lewis, who said he had been in St Lucia visiting friends and family, was searched and customs officers seized five tins of juice stashed inside his Puma cricket bag.
These were found to contain a brown liquid which smelt of chemicals and turned out to 100 per cent pure cocaine.
Customs officers also found traces of cannabis residue in Lewis's luggage.
When questioned at Gatwick, the former England player said he packed the luggage himself and was not carrying anything for anyone else.
Kirnon was stopped 10 minutes later and three tins of fruit juice containing the same liquid cocaine were seized.
When questioned, Kirnon said he had no idea the tins contained drugs and he said the juice was a gift for his mother.
Tom Wilkins, prosecuting, said the cocaine would, at 100 per cent purity, weigh 3.37kg.
He said the pair had been "acting together" to import the "very valuable consignment" in a "joint enterprise".
"When the customs officer pulled him over, Mr Lewis stated he was travelling alone and had been in St Lucia visiting friends and family," Wilkins said.
But when Lewis's luggage was inspected, the Puma cricket bag was found to be labelled with Kirnon's name - "the first of a number of links between these two defendants" and evidence "of what they were, together, up to", Wilkins said.
Both Lewis and Kirnon denied conspiring to import cocaine during the eight-day trial.