Man admits smuggling cocaine-stuffed duck through Stansted Airport
Aldo Alushi, 29, smuggled cocaine into the UK inside a golden duck statue - Credit: National Crime Agency
A drug smuggler has admitted carrying cocaine into the UK inside a golden duck statue through Stansted Airport.
Border Force officers found the drug-laced duck on January 7.
Investigators from the National Crime Agency (NCA) tracked the package to an address in Milwards, Harlow, where they found Aldo Alushi.
Alushi, 29, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to importing Class A drugs at Chelmsford Crown Court on Friday (February 18).
The duck arrived into Essex on a flight from Cali, Colombia.
Officers x-rayed the duck, and when they drilled into it, a pink, sticky liquid oozed out.
A drugs test on the liquid showed a positive result for cocaine.
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Officers searched Alushi's bedroom, where they found five mobile phones and a variety of identity documents in different names.
The NCA said that Alushi, who is Albanian, was living in the UK illegally.
Lydia Bloomfield, of the NCA, said: "This is certainly one of the most unusual attempts to smuggle drugs we’ve seen.
"It shows the lengths that organised crime groups are willing to go in an attempt to avoid detection."
He will be sentenced at Chelmsford Crown Court on March 11.
