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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: 3 million pound cannabis smugglers get 8 years
Peterborough Evening Telegraph
Thursday 17 Jan 2008 TWO fruit and vegetable traders involved in a plot to import 1.2 tonnes of cannabis into the UK, hidden in a consignment of potatoes, have had their "unduly lenient" jail terms increased. Businessmen, Lawrence Padoan (51) and John Terrence Smith (55), both from Spalding, used their legitimate companies as "a front" for the massive cannabis importation. But, when the consignment of 4,398 blocks of cannabis – worth just under £3 million on the streets – arrived among the potatoes at Dover in April 2003, customs officers swooped and the conspiracy was foiled. Padoan, of Wykes Lane, and Smith, of Holbeach Bank, both of previously unblemished character, were each jailed for five years after being convicted of conspiring to smuggle cannabis resin at Winchester Crown Court in September last year. However, their case was referred to the Appeal Court in London by the Attorney General, Baroness Scotland QC, who argued the sentences were "unduly lenient". Lord Justice Thomas, sitting with Mr Justice Davis and Mr Justice David Clarke, yesterday agreed and increased the pair's jail terms to eight years. He said both men had been blameless fruit and vegetable traders all their working lives and the judge, who presided over their month-long trial, had said he could not imagine how they had fallen in with the mastermind behind the cannabis plot, who is serving a long jail term. Their arrests came after a wide-ranging National Crime Squad inquiry which led to a number of arrests in 2003, and culminated in four separate trials. Padoan and Smith had used their legitimate companies as a front for the cannabis importation from Spain. Padoan's company was named as the shipper of the potatoes and the delivery address was given as Smith's business. Lord Justice Thomas said there was a continuing dispute over the exact roles played by the pair in the conspiracy. They claimed they were only to receive £400 for their part. However, there was evidence of a series of meetings between the pair and the main mover behind the plot and, although they were plainly not towards the top of the chain of command, they had been more than "mere foot soldiers" or "subordinates" in the conspiracy, he said. Padoan and Smith, who was in poor health and whose company was in "dire financial straits", had been chosen to participate in the conspiracy precisely because of their apparent respectability and their legitimate businesses, added the judge. http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/3m-cannabis-smugglers-get-8.3682448.jp
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