TWO men, including an Isleworth aircraft cleaning manager at Heathrow, have been jailed by Guildford Crown Court for a total of 31 years after being convicted of smuggling 10 kilos of cocaine, worth approximately £500,000 into the UK.

Warren Franklin, 32, of Syon Lane, Isleworth, a shift manager of Boker Aeroclean was jailed earlier this week for 16 years, while David Peter Iddiols, 49, of Shackleton Court, Stanwell, was jailed for 15 years.

The court heard that when flight BA248 from Bogota, Colombia, landed at LHR at 1.30pm, on July 23, Franklin had been on duty as a Boker Aeroclean employee during the unloading of the aircraft and under Customs' surveillance was seen to remove two black bags from the aircraft hold and place them into the vehicle he was driving.

Franklin drove the vehicle from the airport to Stanwell where he met up with Iddiols in the driveway of a private house. After the bags containing the drugs were removed from the Boker vehicle to the rear of the premises, Franklin drove back to the airport where he was arrested by Customs Officers.

At the time of Franklin's arrest, Iddiols was observed carrying a blue and brown holdall which he put in his Ford Transit van. Iddiols drove off, followed closely by Customs Officers, to an undisclosed layby between Bedfont and Feltham where he hid the drugs in some undergrowth at the side of the road. Iddiols left the area and was immediately arrested by Customs.

A further five kilos of cocaine was found in the hold of the aircraft in identical bags to those already removed by Franklin who had missed picking them up. Both sets of drugs packages were concealed in the dirty duvets used in First Class, sealed in black rubberised sacks.

Customs spokesperson, Bob Gaiger, said "Smugglers should not think that UK airports are an easy option for drug smuggling. Customs is a 21st century organisation dealing with 21st century criminals.

"We are investing in and developing new methods, skills and technology to detect and track criminals. This sentence sends out a clear and unequivocal message that Customs will actively pursue and prosecute airport workers who seek to abuse their positions of trust."