Smugglers jailed for importing drugs in jump suits on luxury cruise
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by Annette Wilson
Seven Eastern Europeans who smuggled
over £4m of cocaine into Dover concealed in body suits on board a
luxury cruise liner have been sentenced to up to 20 years.
The five men and three women from
Bulgaria and Lithuania were arrested after UKBA officials boarded
the MSC Orchestra at Dover in May and searched luggage in four of
the cabins.
They found specially made shorts which
would reach from waist to knee. Stitched into each were packets of
cocaine along with either each defendant's name or nickname.
Total pure weight of the cocaine was
27.2kg with a street value of between £4.1 and £5.1m.
Seven of the eight appeared for
sentence at Canterbury Crown Court today, six having admitted
smuggling the cocaine, one man being convicted after a trial.
Sentence on one of the women was adjourned until Monday.
Prosecutor Patrick Maggs said the
bookings had all been made in Amsterdam and paid for in cash. The
ship had sailed from Brazil and called at The Canaries, Madeira,
Portugal and Spain before Dover.
Handing down sentences ranging from 20
to 12 years, Judge James O'Mahony described the importation as
ingenious and akin to an Army or Naval exercise. "It was planned to
the last detail and no expense spared." He said the operation had
the most sophisticated cover of a luxury cruise with adjacent
cabins and all the defendants eating together.
"You were all fully joined up members
of a sophisticated criminal operation," said Judge O'Mahony. He
said the operation went beyond the quantities of drugs found in the
cabins and there were others behind it, pulling the strings.
The highest sentence of 20 years went
to Kostadin Malev who had gone on trial, and who the judge said was
senior to the others. He was an experienced inter-continental
traveller in the preceeding weeks without having any significant
work.
Judge O'Mahony drew attention to the
curse of Class A drugs by saying: "It all ends in misery. The
pollution of Class A on the streets causes devastation to people's
lives and judges see it all the time in these courts.
"The trafficking of ruinous drugs ends
in misery," he said, adding there were no limits to the human
ingenuity to conceal drugs.
To say the cocaine was destined for
Amsterdam was no defence, he said.
Friday, January 07 2011
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