A 61-year-old woman from Cambridgeshire has appeared in court after Border Force officers at Heathrow Airport seized approximately 6kg of cocaine with a street value of £240,000.

June Ireland, of Bell Gardens, Haddenham, who had been on holiday in Sao Paulo, Brazil, was charged with drug importation and appeared at Uxbridge Magistrates Court yesterday.

The drugs were discovered following a luggage search at Terminal One at about 3.50pm on Tuesday.

She entered a not guilty plea and was remanded in custody. She is due to appear at Isleworth Crown Court on January 2 2014.

The case has been passed to the National Crime Agency for further investigation.

Marc Owen, director of Border Force at Heathrow, said: “This is a significant seizure of an extremely harmful drug and I would like to pay tribute to the vigilance and hard work of the officers involved.

“We will continue to work hard to keep our borders safe and crack down on drug smuggling.”

Anyone with information about activity they suspect may be linked to smuggling should call the hotline on 0800 59 5000.