The deadly drug is being wrapped in small pellets, which are either swallowed or carried in the vaginal or rectal area, and then trafficked into Northern Ireland via a number of potential air routes direct from Europe into Belfast.

Customs officials have identified a key air route from Amsterdam into Belfast International Airport that was being used by the traffickers.

Four seizures were made from that route in just over two months.

"Cocaine is being smuggled into Northern Ireland by air and stuffed into the body. It is a serious risk to their health. If one of these packets split they are almost certainly going to die," said Assistant Director of Criminal Investigations at HM Revenue and Customs, John Whiting.

Some traffickers on UK-bound flights have been caught with up to a kilo of the killer drug inside their bodies.

However, there was a case in Scotland where a man was caught internally carrying 200 pellets - two kilos.