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UK: £20m drug smuggler jailed for six years Scott Armstrong York Press Sunday 11 Nov 2007 AN INTERNATIONAL drug smuggler from York has been jailed for six years for his part in bringing £20 MILLION of cannabis into the UK. Richard Agar, 43, of Prospect Farm, York, was part of a gang of three, who were stopped and arrested in Basildon, Essex, last June. Police found 125kg of cannabis, worth around £5 million, stashed in their lorry, which had been hired by Agar. Agar, Brent Brown, 52, of Lancaster and Huseyin Tonc, 33, from Holland, were all part of a network thought to have been responsible for bringing in at least five tonnes of cannabis, worth an estimated £20 million. They were arrested as part of an investigation by the Serious Organised Crime Agency. The drugs came into the UK on lorries from Holland in a series of shipments between 2005 and 2006. They were often concealed in poor-quality fireplace surrounds and, in some instances, consignments of tins of beetroot and beans, as well as children's clothing. On the day of their arrest Brown had been captured on CCTV at Burger King, on the Heron Retail Park, in Basildon, at 9am that morning. Later the same morning, at about 10.45am, Brown and Tonc were seen driving the lorry to nearby Bowden Cargo, where Agar collected the drugs. At Basildon Crown Court, all three were found guilty of the same charge, and conspiring to smuggle 314kg of cannabis resin into the UK. In sentencing, His Honour Judge Mitchell accepted that the three men were not part of the "senior management" of the organisation, but said they had each played an active part in smuggling activities. Agar, a known smuggler, was jailed for six years. Tonc received five years imprisonment for his role as an onward distribution manager and Brown was sentenced to four years in prison and a two-year travel restriction order for his role as a delivery driver. Gregor McGill, head of Serious Organised Crime at the Revenue and Customs Prosecution Office, said "I am delighted with this result, which is testament to all involved in this operation. This demonstrates what we can achieve when investigators and prosecutors work together in the fight against organised crime." http://www.yorkpress.co.uk
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