80-year-old pensioner charged with drug smuggling after 3.3kg of meth found in his suitcase at Heathrow

Authorities say he had just flown in from Mexico City.

NCA officers and Border Force staff searched his suitcase and discovered a large quantity of the drug hidden in sweet wrappers.

The seizure was weighed by officers at 3.3kg of the Class A drug.

The 80-year-old will appear at Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court today.

Methamphetamine, which Magel was caught with, is a "powerful, highly addictive stimulant that affects the central nervous system," according to the National Institute for Drug Abuse.

The drug takes the form of a white, odourless, bitter-tasting crystalline powder that easily dissolves in water or alcohol.

The latest Government data suggests the maximum penalty for possession of a Class-A drug is "up to 7 years in prison, an unlimited fine or both" while the maximum penalty for supply and production is "up to life in prison, an unlimited fine or both".

According to a Home Office report on adult substance misuse treatment statistics between 2022 to 2023 there was a small rise in methamphetamine treatment numbers from 558 to 615, which has been increasing gradually since reporting began in 2005 to 2006.

The discovery of the drugs in the 80-year-old's possession came just a month after vile scammers targeted stranded flyers at Heathrow Airport following the cancellation of more than 200 British Airways flights.

The airliner cancelled dozens of flights to and from its main base at London Heathrow for three days in a row back in September.

ONS interactive graph - Proportion of people reporting use of drugs in the last year, England and Wales, year ending December 1995 to year ending March 2023

Flights to holiday destinations such as Malaga, Nice and Rome were among the cancellations, according to The Independent.

Following the cancellations, at least four scammers masquerading as BA began replying to stranded Britons pretending to offer customer support.

One passenger, Ornella, wrote on social media: “British Airways, thanks for destroying our day – cancel flight at the last moment and let the people spend three hours on the phone trying to get an answer is not normal when you are at a wedding.”

British Airways responded, saying: "Send us your booking reference via DM [direct message] along with as much information as possible so we can take a closer look."

Someone else responded to the post, calling themselves "John Lewis British Airways Representative" and claiming to be from the "British Airways Support Team."

They wrote: "Hello, it’s unfortunate for the challenge encountered. We would like to closely look at the concern raised. Please follow back and share with us via DM your full name, email address, phone number, and reservation number to allow us further."

Passengers have been warned that sharing this information would allow the victim to be called on WhatsApp and asked to download a remittance app under the pretence of “receiving compensation”.

However, doing so would open up the victim to being tricked into sending hundreds or thousands of pounds to the fraudsters.