A British Airways steward was caught leaving a flight from Jamaica carrying six kilos of cocaine yesterday, police said today.

The crew member was arrested on suspicion of smuggling the drug after a routine search by Customs officers at Gatwick Airport in the early hours of the morning.

He is alleged to have been carrying cocaine with a street value of £372,000 when he stepped off the flight from Kingston.

The man was released on police bail as investigations continue.

He is due to report back to Crawley police station early next week.

BA today refused to comment about the allegations beyond saying an investigation is underway.

Officers from Sussex Police, Customs and Excise and the Metropolitan Police have been running a crackdown on smuggling code-named Operation Trident since 1999.

The initiative targets the spiralling gun crime in London fuelled by drugs which arrive at Gatwick.

The airlines are also working closely with Customs to help stop trafficking and have said in past they are keen to co-operate with any initiatives to stem the flow.

The latest arrest comes just days after Sussex Police announced a clampdown on crack cocaine coming into the county, some of which is believed to come through Gatwick.

In August 2000 the Brighton Intelligence Unit identified a group of Caribbean nationals who had moved from London to set up a network in Sussex to supply crack cocaine.

Part of their operation was to arrange the importation of drugs via couriers into Gatwick or Heathrow.

The couriers would then be met and taken to safe houses where the cocaine was processed into crack.

In January, Phil Sinkinson, British Deputy High Commissioner in Jamaica, claimed one in ten passengers arriving at Gatwick and Heathrow from Jamaica were smuggling cocaine.

Mr Sinkinson estimated up to 30 kilos could be hidden inside drug couriers on each plane.

With four British Airways flights a week arriving at Gatwick from Kingston this could mean 120kg coming into the airport with a street value of £6 million.

A spokesman for Customs and Excise said: "The arrest was part of our normal work of identifying smuggling risks.

"We will look at aircraft arriving in Gatwick from drug supplying or drug producing areas.

"When we check a plane we will obviously look at the passengers. We will also look at the crew, the freight and the aircraft itself.

"We have had crew members arrested in the past although it is not a frequent occurrence."

A spokeswoman for British Airways said: "We can confirm a member of staff was arrested yesterday but because it is an ongoing investigation there is nothing else we can say about it."