EXCLUSIVE: Man denies collecting '£4m worth of cocaine in a suitcase from plane at small airfield'

A MAN has denied collecting a suitcase filled with cocaine worth an estimated £4 million on the streets from a plane.

Richard Farmer, 36, from Ballantine Road, Coventry, has been charged in a National Crime Agency (NCA) prosecution.

It is alleged that on February 23 this year he met a small plane at Deenethorpe Airfield in Corby and picked up a suitcase.

When he was later stopped and his vehicle searched, the suitcase was found to contain cocaine worth about £4 million on the streets, according to the NCA.

On Tuesday, September 13, at Northampton Crown Court, he pleaded not guilty to the offence and the case was adjourned until next year for trial.

The charge alleges that "on the 23rd day of February 2022, in relation to a Class A controlled drug, namely cocaine, (he) was knowingly concerned in the fraudulent evasion of the prohibition on importation imposed by section 3(1) of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971”.