A British student has been arrested after allegedly being caught smuggling cocaine disguised as milk from Colombia.
Fahad Uddin Ahmed, 25, was stopped as he tried to board a plane to London from Alfonso Bonilla Aragon International Airport near the city of Cali.
Officials opened the packets of powdered milk he was carrying before taking a drug color test at the airport, which they claim showed the packets contained the illegal Class A substance.
The British student was forced by Colombian police to pose for what is believed to be an illegal drug stash before being captured.
Local reports said the plane he wanted to board was headed to London with a connection in the German city of Frankfurt.
He is said to have four bags marked Klim in his carry-on luggage, which police say contained cocaine.
British student Fahad Uddin Ahmed, 25, was arrested in Colombia after allegedly trying to smuggle out cocaine disguised as milk powder
The student was suspected of attempting to transport ‘10,000 doses’ of the Class A drug to London
It was not immediately clear today whether he had already appeared in court and been remanded in custody pending an ongoing investigation
Police say he had ‘10,000 doses’ of the drug, although the exact weight is not yet clear.
A police spokesman said: ‘The person arrested is British.
‘He had cocaine with him, disguised as milk. It was discovered when his luggage was searched at Alfonso Bonilla Aragon Airport by officers stationed at the airport working with immigration officials,” police alleged.
Officers also released images of the drug test they conducted in the presence of the British traveler.
A person acting as a translator may stand above your head and say, “We’re just verifying everything we’re going to do,” while an officer wearing gloves inspects the milk cartons and explains that he’s going to analyze the substance inside.
The English speaker added: “We’re going to test each one individually as part of the narco test,” moments before a chemical reaction caused the white napkins in front of the parcels to turn a tell-tale blue.
The arrested man was handcuffed and led away by two uniformed officers with a grim look on his face.
It was not immediately clear today whether he had already appeared in court and been remanded in custody pending an ongoing investigation.
Under Colombia’s penal code, a person in possession of 10 to 28 grams of cocaine is considered human trafficking, and for the first offense faces a prison sentence of three to 10 years.
Early last month, a British man was arrested after trying to fly out of the Dominican Republic with two suitcases full of suspected cocaine.
The 32-year-old was detained as he tried to board a plane to Frankfurt, Germany.
Police on the Caribbean island confirmed the arrest and said they were trying to determine whether he was part of a larger gang of drug traffickers.
Officers also released video footage showing them counting the 36 cellophane-wrapped packets of the suspected cocaine, barely hidden beneath a thin layer of clothing.
Londoner Modou Adams was arrested for seven years in October after he was caught trying to fly out of Peru
The arrest took place at Punta Cana International Airport after specialized sniffer dogs examined the two suspicious suitcases. The British man was taken into custody after spot checks for the suspected drugs.
Last October, a British model who flaunted his jet-set lifestyle on social media was jailed for seven years in Peru after he was caught trying to fly out of the country with £300,000 worth of cocaine.
Londoner Modou Dodou Adams wowed his thousands of social media fans with his trendsetting looks and VIP world travels under the self-styled name ‘boywholives’ in a show of excess branded by authorities as a cover for his criminal activities.
His apparent world of glamor was left in tatters after he confessed to being a drug trafficker and was told he will now spend the next six years and eight months in a hellish South American prison.
Adams, 25, was detained at Lima International Airport as he tried to check in for a flight to London via Paris with almost three kilos of cocaine in his suitcase.
He was sentenced in a speedy trial 24 hours after his arrest by the same police force that detained Michaella McCollum and Melissa Reid, the so-called Peru Two, in August 2013.
The Peru Two, Michaella McCollum of Dungannon, Northern Ireland, and Melissa Reid of Lenzie, Scotland, were arrested on August 6, 2013 on suspicion of drug smuggling at Jorge Chávez International Airport, Lima, Peru, after their luggage was found to contain 11 kilos of cocaine .
They initially claimed they had been coerced by an armed gang, but subsequently pleaded guilty.
On December 17, 2013, the couple was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison.
Melissa Reid (right) and Michaella McCollum Conolly (left) were arrested at Lima airport with cocaine in their luggage
In early 2016, both women attempted to return to the United Kingdom.
McCollum applied for parole and was released on March 31, 2016, with the prospect of having to remain in Peru for up to six years.
In April 2016, Peruvian authorities agreed to deport Reid from the country.
She was released from prison on June 21 that year and immediately returned to Britain, arriving at Glasgow airport the next day.
McCollum returned to Europe two months later, arriving at Dublin Airport in Ireland on August 13, 2016.
She later wrote a book about her experiences titled “You’ll Never See Daylight Again.”
In June 2022, a British man, then locally named Russell Tamer, was arrested on suspicion of attempting to smuggle cocaine out of a Colombian airport, strapped to his body.
Police detained him as he allegedly threw a packet of the drug into an airport toilet after spotting uniformed officers at a security airport.
The arrest took place at Simon Bolivar International Airport, the airport serving the city of Santa Marta in Colombia, the capital of the Magdalena department.
It was not immediately clear today whether he has already been processed by the court.
Cocaine production and trafficking is considered the main driver of a nearly six-decade armed conflict in Colombia that has left more than 450,000 dead and displaced millions.