Border Force officers spent hours breaking into enormous fruit processing machine to find £22million of cocaine and crystal meth being smuggled from Mexico to UK

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A woman has been charged with importing a shipment of £22 million of drugs into the UK from Mexico inside an industrial fruit processing machine.

Olivia Anton-Altamirano, 32, allegedly smuggled some 250kg of cocaine and 9kg of crystal meth hidden inside the specially constructed machine, according to the National Crime Agency (NCA).

The Spanish national was arrested at her home in Blackheath, south-east London.

The National Crime Agency released this image of packages of drugs that were allegedly smuggled into the UK from Mexico by Olivia Anton-Altamirano

The drugs were said to have been trafficked into London Gateway Port in Essex

The drugs were said to have been trafficked into London Gateway Port in Essex on March 17 where the fruit processor was stopped by Border Force officers.

After several hours, they broke into the 3.5-tonne machinery to find the haul estimated to have a £22 million street value.

John Coles, the NCA's head of specialist operations, said: 'Here we have a potentially lucrative plot by organised criminals to smuggle 259kg of Class A drugs into the UK, which would have eventually found itself being sold on the streets of London.'

Border Force officers broke into the 3.5-tonne machinery to find the haul estimated to have a £22 million street value

The Spanish national was arrested at her home in Blackheath, south-east London 

The announcement of the seizure came after security minister Ben Wallace warned the UK is 'fast becoming the biggest consumer of cocaine in Europe'.

And Simon Kempton, the Police Federation's deputy treasurer, blamed demand for the drug on middle-class users, the Guardian reported.

Anton-Altamirano, of Charlton Road, will appear at Kingston Crown Court to enter a plea on June 7.

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