A CORRUPT baggage handler at Heathrow Airport has been found guilty of plotting to smuggle cocaine into the UK.

Dev Anand, 24, of Willoughby Road, Langley, worked with fellow employee Vaughn Henry, 46, to collect a bag containing around three kilos of high-purity cocaine which had arrived on a flight from Brazil into Terminal 3.

Anand picked up the bag from the flight on February 5 and gave it to Henry to store in his staff locker until his shift had finished.

Henry himself had been sent pictures of what the bag looked like from London-based drug trafficker, Grattan Samuels, 23, who was in contact with other criminals and had organised the plot.

In the evening Henry handed the bag to taxi driver Adnan Ahmed Malik, 24, who was waiting just outside the airport. Malik’s job was to transport the drugs to Birmingham, but before he could set off National Crime Agency (NCA) officers moved in and arrested him and Henry.

Samuels and Anand were then arrested in April after WhatsApp messages and photos on Henry’s phones linked them to the crime.

Colin Williams, NCA branch operations manager, said: "Henry and Anand used their privileged access to Heathrow for criminal purposes, offering a crucial service to drug traffickers and bypassing border controls.

"Tackling corruption at the border is a major priority for the NCA and our law enforcement partners. It threatens the safety and security of the UK.

"People like Henry and Anand who use their employment to engage in organised criminality can expect our full attention.”

Anand and Samuels pleaded guilty to conspiring to import drugs, while Samuels also admitted a separate charge of conspiring to acquire a firearm.

Henry and Malik denied the charges but following a ten day trial at Birmingham Crown Court were both found guilty on Wednesday 18 October.

All four men will be sentenced at the same court on Friday, November 3.