by Annette Wilson

Seven Eastern Europeans who smuggled over £4m of cocaine into Dover concealed in body suits on board a luxury cruise liner have been sentenced to up to 20 years.

The five men and three women from Bulgaria and Lithuania were arrested after UKBA officials boarded the MSC Orchestra at Dover in May and searched luggage in four of the cabins.

They found specially made shorts which would reach from waist to knee. Stitched into each were packets of cocaine along with either each defendant's name or nickname.

Total pure weight of the cocaine was 27.2kg with a street value of between £4.1 and £5.1m.

Seven of the eight appeared for sentence at Canterbury Crown Court today, six having admitted smuggling the cocaine, one man being convicted after a trial. Sentence on one of the women was adjourned until Monday.

Prosecutor Patrick Maggs said the bookings had all been made in Amsterdam and paid for in cash. The ship had sailed from Brazil and called at The Canaries, Madeira, Portugal and Spain before Dover.

Handing down sentences ranging from 20 to 12 years, Judge James O'Mahony described the importation as ingenious and akin to an Army or Naval exercise. "It was planned to the last detail and no expense spared." He said the operation had the most sophisticated cover of a luxury cruise with adjacent cabins and all the defendants eating together.

"You were all fully joined up members of a sophisticated criminal operation," said Judge O'Mahony. He said the operation went beyond the quantities of drugs found in the cabins and there were others behind it, pulling the strings.

The highest sentence of 20 years went to Kostadin Malev who had gone on trial, and who the judge said was senior to the others. He was an experienced inter-continental traveller in the preceeding weeks without having any significant work.

Judge O'Mahony drew attention to the curse of Class A drugs by saying: "It all ends in misery. The pollution of Class A on the streets causes devastation to people's lives and judges see it all the time in these courts.

"The trafficking of ruinous drugs ends in misery," he said, adding there were no limits to the human ingenuity to conceal drugs.

To say the cocaine was destined for Amsterdam was no defence, he said.