Sixty one year old Terence Smith along with another man were carrying 10 kilograms of the drug in a number of books when they were stopped by police.
The men have pleaded not guilty but could face up to eight years in prison.
Reports suggest they were caught in a scam in which they thought they had won the lottery.
In comments in the Mail of Sunday, Colonel Alfredo Velarde, chief investigations officer of the Peruvian Anti-Drug Police in Lima, said: "Drug gangs are now using elderly people and fooling them into carrying loads of cocaine. When they are caught they are very surprised and we can tell they are very confused about what they are carrying.
"We have reasons to believe the men didn't know they were really carrying drugs. Both of them will come out of this as elderly men because they both face a maximum of eight years behind bars."
The Foreign Office is said to be in contact with the men.
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