A MAN who smuggled bright pink liquid cocaine into the UK through Gatwick Airport has been jailed.

Errol Watson, 54, from Wanstead in East London, was arrested by Border Force officers after they examined a consignment labelled as oil filters, which had been shipped from Barbados.

They discovered inside cylinders was a bright pink liquid which tested positive for cocaine.

Around 26 kilos of the drug was removed at a specialist laboratory with a potential value on the streets of up to £2 million.

On Monday Watson pleaded guilty to conspiring to import cocaine on what should have been day one of his trial at the Old Bailey.

He was jailed for 16 years.

Steve McIntyre, from the Nation Crime Agency's Border Policing Command, said: "Drug trafficking is a crime that has great impacts, from exploitation in South American source countries to violence and gun crime on the streets of London.

"I have no doubt that Errol Watson had been involved in this type of criminality for years.

"This was certainly an unusual method of smuggling cocaine, the first time we have seen it in brightly coloured pink liquid like this.

"It was also a very deep concealment, demonstrating that the organised crime groups we are combating have access to sophisticated equipment and expertise.

"Working with our law enforcement colleagues in Border Force and overseas we are determined to do all we can to disrupt and bring to justice the criminal networks involved in international drug smuggling."