Tourist arrested after 'trying to jet out of Colombia with cocaine

A Scottish tourist has been arrested and remanded in custody after allegedly trying to fly out of Colombia with nearly two kilos of cocaine in his suitcase.

The 32-year-old man, named locally as Ricky Grant Courage, was held at Rafael Nunez International Airport which serves the Caribbean port city of Cartagena.

Prosecutors said he was planning to return to the UK with the drugs, detected by sniffer dogs put to work on luggage that had already been checked in.

Colombian authorities went public with the arrest earlier today.

The suspected drug courier has been remanded in San Sebastian Ternera Prison in Cartagena on the orders of a judge while the investigation against him continues.

It was not immediately clear last night how long he would be held before bars before being told if and when he is going to be put on trial.

Pictures of the bearded Scot in court, wearing a blue T-shirt, have been published by local press.

Colombia's Public Prosecution Service said in a statement: 'The material evidence provided by a prosecutor from the Immediate Reaction Unit (URI) allowed a judge to remand Scottish citizen Ricky Grant Courage, suspected of being responsible for the crime of manufacturing, trafficking or carrying narcotics, in prison.

'His arrest took place on September 29 at Cartagena airport where the 32-year-old foreigner tried to board a flight to Scotland, carrying 1.976kg of cocaine.

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'The illegal substance was detected in the defendant's suitcase during the police inspection with sniffer dogs carried out on luggage that had already been checked in for international flights.

'Among the foreigner's personal belongings, six packages covered with black plastic were found. He did not accept his responsibility for the crime he was accused of.

'By judicial order his confinement will take place in San Sebastián Ternera prison in Cartagena.'

In April, a British student was arrested after being caught smuggling cocaine disguised as milk out of Colombia.

The 25-year-old was stopped as he tried to board a plane to London from Alfonso Bonilla Aragon International Airport near the city of Cali.

Officers opened up the packets of powdered milk he was carrying in front of him before doing a drug colour test at the airport to confirm they contained the illegal class-A substance.

The Brit, named locally as Fahad Uddin Ahmed and described as a student, was made to pose in front of his illegal drugs stash by Colombian police before being taken away prisoner.

Local reports at the time said the plane he was planning to board was bound for London with a connection in the German city of Frankfurt.

He is said to have been carrying the cocaine inside four bags, marked Klim, in his hand luggage.

Last October, a British model who flaunted his jet set lifestyle on social media was jailed for seven years in Peru after being 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 globetrotting under the self-styled moniker of 'boywholives' in a show of excess branded by authorities as a front for his criminal activities.

His apparent world of glamour was left in tatters after he confessed to being a drug trafficker and was told he now faces the next six years and eight months in a hellhole South American jail.

Adams, 25, was held at Lima's 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 handed his sentence in a quickie trial 24 hours after his arrest by the same police force that held Michaella McCollum and Melissa Reid, the so-called Peru Two in August 2013.

The Peru Two, Michaella McCollum from Dungannon, Northern Ireland, and Melissa Reid from Lenzie, Scotland, were arrested on 6 August 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 17 December 2013, the pair were sentenced to six years and eight months' imprisonment.

In early 2016, both women sought to return to the United Kingdom.

McCollum applied to be freed on parole and was released on 31 March 2016, with the prospect of having to remain in Peru for up to six years.

In April 2016 the Peruvian authorities agreed to expel Reid from the country.

She was released from prison on 21 June that year and immediately returned to Britain, arriving at Glasgow airport the following day.

McCollum returned to Europe two months later, arriving at Dublin airport in Ireland on 13 August 2016. She later wrote a book about her experiences titled 'You'll Never See Daylight Again.'