A MAN who was arrested at Edinburgh Airport with over £5m worth of cocaine told police that he had “only brough sombreros” back from his trip to Mexico.
Kristopher Purvis was nabbed after touching back down in the Scottish capital in July last year, with Border Force grabbing him in the nothing to declare line at the airport.
The 35-year-old was found to be transporting a staggering 45kg of cocaine back to Scotland alongside his travelling partner, spread across two suitcases.
After being confronted by cops though, the drug smuggler supposedly told officers that the only thing he’d returned from Central America with was souvenir sombreros.
The High Court in Edinburgh heard yesterday that Purvis and his accomplice carried the £5m worth of class A drugs in two suitcases.
In his appearance at the High Court, Purvis admitted the two charges brought against him, both related to drug smuggling.
Both Purvis and his travelling companion were carrying a suitcase with Purvis additionally carrying a plastic bag which had souvenir sombreros inside.
Purvis is alleged to have told the officer the “only thing that he had acquired in Mexico was the sombreros”.
When his suitcase was searched by officers though, they discovered eight vacuum sealed packages filled with cocaine.
Seven similar packages were found in his partner’s suitcase making for a total of 15, with each containing roughly 3kg of cocaine which was tested and found to be 52% pure.
During proceedings the court was told the maximum street value of the drugs was estimated at around £5,600,000.
Purvis flew from Mexico to Edinburgh via a stopover in Paris where he was surprisingly not caught with the drugs.
He admitted two charges – being concerned in the supply of cocaine and the fraudulent evasion of the ban on importing controlled drugs.
Advocate depute Brian Gill KC told the High Court in Edinburgh: “The accused told the officer that they had come from Mexico, where they had been since June 30, 2024.”
The judge deferred sentence on Purvis who joined proceedings digitally from Edinburgh Prison.
