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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: Gang accused of 5 million UKP cannabis smuggling racket
Mid Sussex Today
Monday 25 Sep 2006 A HAYWARDS Heath man has appeared in court accused of being part of a £5million drug smuggling operation. Derek Johnson, 54, of Barnmead, is alleged to have been a member of a gang who smuggled £5m worth of cannabis hidden in rolls of carpet, a court heard. Johnson is jointly accused with fellow gang-members of arranging for 912 kilos to be stashed in specially made smell-proof compartments. He and Michael Lawson, 59, of St John's Hill, Sevenoaks; Lee Adderson, 47, of High Silver, Ingatestone; Darren Roberts, 45, of St Mary's Cray, Orpington and Donald Jones, 51, of Lorne Gardens, Wanstead, all deny conspiracy to smuggle cannabis between May 1 and October 13 2001. The drugs were allegedly driven from Ghent in Belgium to a warehouse in Basildon, Essex, watched by National Crime Squad officers who pounced when the drugs were delivered. "It was brought over, say the Crown, in a clever, ingenious way," prosecutor Daniel Janner QC told Snaresbrook Crown Court. "Hidden inside each of those carpet rolls was a compartment running through the middle, sealed off at each end, in which the drugs were hidden to evade detection." The court heard the gang started building the compartments at the Essex warehouse in May 2001 and the shipment of cannabis was brought into the country in a lorry in October of that year. "It involved many hands to put those carpets together," said Mr Janner. "The hands involved were all these defendants. "Each and every one of them was involved in the necessary work in constructing these hides." Mr Janner said a driver was recruited and carried out ten 'dry-runs' taking carpets to the continent, sometimes using those with the false compartments. "They appear to have been dry runs to give the impression of legitimacy to customs at Dover, but also to make sure the hides avoided detection as they passed through customs," said the prosecutor. "It's the Crown's case that on the eleventh trip, when the cannabis was smuggled in, that these defendants were caught red-handed. "The prosecution say Lawson is the organiser of the team, the organiser of the smuggling." The gang claim they believe they were smuggling tobacco and not cannabis. "The Crown will rely on evidence which shows that's not true," added Mr Janner. The trial continues. http://www.midsussextoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=516&ArticleID=1786650 contact: middy.news@sussexnewspapers.co.uk
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