Kiwi cocaine smugglers jailed in US

A New Zealand couple who admitted to trying to smuggle almost six kilograms of cocaine on a cruise ship have been jailed in America. Kirsty Harris from Bay of Plenty and Auckland businessman Tony Wilkinson faced several years in prison after they were found carrying drugs with a street value of more than NZ$2 million on a cruise ship in San Francisco. Wilkinson, 42, was today sentenced to just over four years in federal prison. Harris, 25, was sentenced to just over three years. US correspondent Jack Tame told ONE News that the pair, who were sentenced in San Francisco, will be deported after their release. He earlier said that Harris and Wilkinson entered the US on a luxury cruise at the end of January. The ship they were on, the P&O Aurora, had left Southampton at the start of the year and its last stop before the US arrest was in Mexico. Customs officers checking the ship found seven kilograms of cocaine in the room of an Australian passenger who led them to the Kiwi couple. Police records show the couple resisted when federal officers knocked on the door to their cabin.