Man caught with £5m of Mexican cocaine claimed he only had sombreros

A drug smuggler who arrived at a Scottish airport from Mexico with a 45kg haul of cocaine worth more than £5m claimed that the only items he acquired on his trip were sombreros.

Kristopher Purvis flew into Edinburgh Airport on July 24 last year and was stopped by a Border Force officer as he went through the green “Nothing to Declare” channel at the arrivals hall.

The 35-year-old and his companion each had a large black suitcase, and he was also carrying a plastic bag containing four multicoloured traditional Mexican sombreros.

“The accused told the officer that they had come from Mexico, where they had been since June 30, 2024,” advocate depute Brian Gill KC told the High Court in Edinburgh.

Purvis said that the suitcase and bag were his, he had packed them and was not carrying any items for anyone else. He confirmed that he was aware it was prohibited to bring controlled drugs into the UK.

The prosecutor said: “He said that the only thing that he had acquired in Mexico was the sombreros.”

The Border Force officer searched Purvis’ suitcase and found eight vacuum-sealed plastic packages. When one of them was cut into it was found to contain a further sealed package covered in a foul smelling yellow liquid, which appeared to be mustard and inside it was cocaine.

Purvis was cautioned and replied: “It’s all mine, my mate had nothing to do with it. I put it in his case.”

He was arrested and responded: “Yeah, alright I understand. I’m useless and f***ing stupid and I’m f***ed anyway.”

Another officer searched his travelling companion’s case and found a further seven packages containing the Class A drug.

The 15 packages recovered were each found to contain about three kilos of cocaine which had a purity of 52% pure. The maximum street value of the total haul was up to £5,640,000.

Purvis, formerly of Mann Crescent, Murton, County Durham, was found to have flown from Mexico City airport to Edinburgh via a stop over at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport.

Purvis admitted being concerned in the supply of cocaine at Edinburgh Airport on July 24 last year and being concerned in the fraudulent evasion of the ban on importing controlled drugs on the same date, when he appeared in court on Tuesday.

Defence solicitor advocate Ewen Roy said that as Purvis was a first offender a background report would be required on him ahead of sentencing.

The judge, Lord Summers, deferred sentence on Purvis, who followed the proceedings via a TV link to Edinburgh prison, for the preparation of the report.