Drug courier was shocked to find he was carrying £500,000 of cocaine

A drug courier was shocked to find he was carrying a consignment of high-purity cocaine which could have sold for almost £500,000. On Tuesday, the High Court in Edinburgh heard Cletus Okpala agreed to make the delivery because he was in debt. Solicitor advocate Paul Burns, defending, added: "I think it is fair to say he did not know the nature of the drug, nor had he any concept of its value." Nigerian Okpala, 26, was jailed for 52 months after admitting being concerned in the supply of cocaine last November 4. He also faces automatic deportation at the end of his prison sentence. Judge Lord Bannatyne told him: "Couriers are essential links in the drug supply chain." Advocate depute Richard Goddard, prosecuting, told how the Scottish Crime and Drugs Enforcement Agency mounted an operation against "high level" members of an organised crime group. The detectives were tipped off that cocaine was to be transported from Edinburgh to Glasgow and tracked Okpala's Nissan Primera along the M8 before stopping the car neat Shotts junction. Okpala had bags of cocaine pellets stuffed into his jacket and socks. Mr Goddard said the total weight was one and a half kilos. But because the cocaine was of such high purity it could easily be "cut" or bulked out to provide twelve kilos for sale on the streets. Experts put the street price at £482,000. Mr Burns said Okpala didn't drink alcohol, had never been in trouble before and was normally "hostile" towards drugs. But a search of his home in Wardieburn Place West, Edinburgh, uncovered mobile phones and sets of notations. Okpala was also carrying two £100 notes when he was stopped. Proceedings have begun to strip Okpala - married to a Latvian hotel worker - of any profits he may have made from crime.