A GANG caught trying to smuggle £1.75m of cocaine into Southampton on a cruise liner were today jailed for a total of 48 years.

The three women and one man strapped shrink wrapped packages to their bodies, secured them with tape and tried to conceal them under baggy clothing as they disembarked P&O’s Arcadia after a three-week Caribbean cruise.

Southampton Crown Court heard how the 19.94kg of drugs – of which 12.75kg was of 100 per cent purity – was the biggest seizure of class A substance ever from a cruise ship in the UK.

The gang picked up the cocaine during a five and a half hour stop on the island of St Lucia, one of several destinations visited by Arcadia during the 23-night trip.

Natalie Quinn, 26, of Grenville Walk, Rochdale; Camille Dupee, 19, of Raleigh Close, Handsworth, Birmingham; Briony Dyce, 25, of Brearley Street, Handsworth, Birmingham; and Calvin Hylton, 41, of Ermington Drive, Manchester, were each sentenced to 12 years in prison.