A HUSBAND and wife from Malmesbury have admitted their part in a drug smuggling ring which saw £1million of methamphetamine brought into the UK.

Paola and David Morrish have each pleaded guilty to offences relating to the smuggling, which saw the Class A drug hidden in Mexican wrestler dolls and bags of coffee.

On Friday, Swindon Crown Court heard that a package of 400 Mexican wrestler dolls was seized by Border Force officers at Stanstead Airport, Essex, last January.

When the figurines were sliced open they were found to contain methamphetamine – better known as crystal meth, the substance made famous by TV blockbuster Breaking Bad.

In all, more than 7kg of the drug had been packed into the plastic children’s toys and was estimated to have a street value of£1million.

Police removed the drugs and tracked the package to the Chippenham address on the delivery label.

Detectives then watched as 42-year-old Paola Morrish stopped at the house and retrieved the dolls, before she returned to the Malmesbury home she shared with her husband, David, and son.

Officers found Paola Morrish had accepted other drug shipments from Mexican gangsters, including crystal meth disguised to look like coffee and sent in packets of coffee beans.

Paola Morrish, of Carnival Close, Malmesbury, pleaded guilty last year to the drug smuggling charge of being concerned in the fraudulent evasion of a prohibition on the importation of a class A drug between October 2018 and February 2019.

On Friday, David Morrish, aged 48, of the same address, admitted a charge of assisting an offender when he appeared at Swindon Crown Court.

He had disposed of a package that had been received by Paola Morrish in February, the court heard.

Judge Jason Taylor QC adjourned sentencing the pair until March 20.

Paola Morrish was remanded in custody while David Morrish was granted bail.

The judge said to David Morrish: “I apologise that I’m unable to proceed to sentence today. I hope you understand the reasons why. It is far better for you that there is a clear understanding of what this case is all about.”

A London-based gang member who was believed to be the intended recipient of the drugs, Paolo Matos, 35, fled his Battersea flat back to Mexico last year. He is wanted by the UK and Italian authorities.