Drug smuggler found dead in NSW cell

A man has been found dead in his prison cell, days after he was arrested at Sydney airport for allegedly importing $20 million of cocaine concealed in frozen fish.

Dimitrios Mavris was due to face Sydney's Central Local Court on Wednesday but the 48-year-old was found dead in his cell at a Surry Hills corrections facility on Friday night.

A NSW Police spokeswoman told AAP on Wednesday the death is not being treated as suspicious.

Mavris, from Woolloomooloo, was nabbed at the airport as he landed in Sydney a week ago and charged with importing a commercial quantity of cocaine concealed in two shipping containers of frozen fish from Peru into Australia.

The Australian Federal Police allege Mavris imported 59 kilograms of cocaine between last September and March.

Officers targeted two shipments arriving into Sydney in March containing frozen fish from Peru and discovered cocaine was packed into the cavities of both containers, the AFP said in a statement.

The drugs, which had a potential street value of about $20.6 million, were removed and the containers were delivered to an address in Kingsgrove.

A report will be prepared for the coroner.