|
Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
|
|
Ex-paras are jailed for ú6.8m drugs plot Sean O Neill Saturday 18 Dec 1999 A DRUG-SMUGGLING gang set up by a group of former paratroopers was jailed for a total of 24 years yesterday. Three former soldiers of the Parachute Regiment ran an operation to smuggle £6.8 million of cannabis and amphetamines from France and Spain into Britain using a secondhand car dealership for cover. Cardiff Crown Court heard that their scheme was discovered when one courier, who smuggled drugs worth £4 million, became a police informant and a set of coded instructions was found in a lock-up garage. Neil Bidder, QC, prosecuting, said that Steven Bloodworth, 29, a former paratrooper, set up the gang with his former colleagues Robert Groundwater, 32, and John Davidson, 32. Three of Bloodworth's brothers were involved in the gang. "The conspirators were either members of the Third Battalion of the Parachute Regiment based in Dover, their family and friends," said Mr Bidder. Stephen Hopkins, defending Bloodworth, said: "He served his country well and was in the Parachute Regiment for nine years. He served several tours abroad at the risk of great personal danger including two tours of Northern Ireland." Bloodworth, of Cwmbran, South Wales, was jailed for six years for conspiracy to supply drugs. Davidson, of Dover, was jailed for two years for conspiracy to supply drugs. Groundwater, of Dover, received a three-year sentence for the same offence. Five other members of the gang received sentences totalling 13 years. Mark Ralph, 34, the informant whose evidence helped police catch the gang, was given a two-year suspended sentence for conspiracy to supply drugs.
After you have finished reading this article you can click here to go back.
|
This page was created by the Cannabis Campaigners' Guide.
Feel free to link to this page!