Crime Correspondent: Antrim Crown Court

Johnson Fayiah was arrested at Belfast International Airport after getting off a flight from Amsterdam

Johnson Fayiah was arrested at Belfast International Airport after getting off a flight from Amsterdam

Johnson Fayiah, 26, was arrested at Belfast International Airport after getting off a flight from Amsterdam.A search proved he had swallowed...

Johnston Fayiah was sentenced to four and a half years by Antrim Crown Court

Johnston Fayiah, 26, who has an address in the Netherlands but a family in Nigeria, was sentenced to four and a half years by Antrim Crown Court. <br />Judge Patrick Lynch told Fayiah if the bags had burst he would have ended up as "a corpse rather than a prisoner". The drugs, with an estimated value of £100,000, were discovered in an X-ray. The judge added that while Fayiah had acted out of his "own personal greed - for narrow financial gain", he was prepared to accept he was a drug courier, rather than a major player. Fayiah, with an address at Honzelean, Kemper, was stopped by customs because "he fitted the profile of a potential courier" after coming off an Amsterdam flight at Belfast's International Airport on 5 January, 2008. When initially questioned he denied having any drugs, but agreed to have an X-ray, which showed up the 300 grams of the Class A drug contained in the packets. <br />Despite this however, he claimed to know nothing about them, before admitting that he had been approached "by a man called Dan" who'd paid him 500 euro, with the promise of a further 1,000 euro upon his return to Holland. Defence said Fayiah, who has a wife and child in Nigeria, had escaped the west Africian country when he was 17 during a civil war which claimed the lives of his parents. He added that Fayiah agreed to take the drugs because "he was in extreme financial difficulties at the time".

Johnston Fayiah was sentenced to four and a half years by Antrim Crown Court

Johnston Fayiah, 26, who has an address in the Netherlands but a family in Nigeria, was sentenced to four and a half years by Antrim Crown C...