A man from Cricklewood has been jailed for three and a half years for attempting to smuggle cocaine hidden inside his wheelchair into the UK.

Daniel Roque Hall, 29, of Willesden Lane, was stopped by Border Force officers after arriving at Heathrow on November 28, 2011.

He had flown in from Peru, via Paris, and his wheelchair contained £370,000 worth of cocaine.

At Heathrow swabs were taken from his chair which showed traces of the Class A drug.

An x-ray then revealed the presence of a number of packages concealed within the removable leather seat of the chair.

The seat was spiked and cocaine was found inside.

The packages contained almost three kilos of high purity cocaine.

Roque Hall pleaded guilty to attempting to import Class A drugs and he was sentenced at Isleworth Crown Court yesterday.

Pete Avery, from Border Force, said: “Mr Roque Hall may’ve thought that because he was in a wheelchair he would be above suspicion, but our officers are trained to expect the unexpected.

“The cocaine hidden in his wheelchair was of a very high purity and there is no doubt in my mind that had he not been stopped it would’ve ended up being cut and sold on the streets of London.

“Border Force officers are on constant alert to keep Class A drugs and other banned substances out of the UK and take them out of the supply chain before they reach the streets.”