Cricket star 'smuggled cocaine in tins of fruit'
FORMER England cricketer Chris Lewis smuggled more than £140,000 of cocaine into Britain hidden in tins of fruit, a court heard yesterday.
Lewis stashed the drugs in a black Puma cricket bag as he flew from St Lucia to Gatwick, the jury was told.
The 100 per cent pure cocaine was dissolved in liquid inside five cans of fruit and vegetable juice.
The 41-year-old former fast bowler was stopped shortly after landing following a week in the Caribbean, Croydon Crown Court in south London heard.
When told his luggage had tested positive for cocaine, the veteran of 32 England test matches allegedly asked: “Could there be some mistake?”
He declined to answer questions during interviews.
Lewis told officials he was travelling alone after a trip to see relatives. But his luggage was labelled in the name of 27-year-old co-defendant Chad Kirnon.
When Lewis was questioned he answered no comment to all questions put to him
The younger man had three tins containing dissolved cocaine in his own bags, the court heard.
Days earlier, Kirnon had been stopped on his way into St Lucia and had £7,000 on him – cash which could have been used to buy drugs.
Lewis and Kirnon were stopped shortly after arriving at Gatwick in the early hours of December 8, last year.
Tom Wilkins, prosecuting, told the jury the two men had orchestrated the smuggling scheme together but fell out after they were arrested. Each has now launched a “cut-throat defence” – blaming the other for the crime, he told the jury.
“They were in a joint enterprise to smuggle into this country a quantity of cocaine. At 100 per cent purity it weighed a little over 3.37 kilograms,” said Mr Wilkins.
“While his luggage had Kirnon’s name on it, Lewis confirmed all of the luggage was his.
“Officers went through the bag and they found a number of tins of fruit and vegetable juice which upon closer inspection were revealed to be liquids containing cocaine.
Mr Wilkins told the jury: “When Lewis was questioned, rather than offer an explanation or say what he was doing in St Lucia or say what the tins were doing in his luggage, he answered no comment to all the questions put to him.”
Both defendants knew each other well but claimed to be travelling alone. Lewis, of Brent, north London, and Kirnan, of Islington, north London, both deny one charge of smuggling.
The trial continues.
