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Cannabis haul sent out to supermarkets

Ed Harris

Evening Standard

Wednesday 17 Nov 1999


Cannabis with a street value of £280,000 was unwittingly sent to
supermarkets in and around London in a consignment of apple strudel.

The cargo of ready-made desserts was shipped to a Tesco distribution
warehouse yesterday. But concealed among boxes of the German pastries
was a haul of cannabis.

Staff at the warehouse in Snod-land, near Maidstone, had no way of
detecting the drugs and unknowingly distributed the strudels by lorry
to five Tesco stores across Kent, Sussex and south-east London.

It was only when workers at one store in Sussex started to unpack the
desserts before stacking them on shelves that the bars of cannabis
were spotted.

Security staff called in police and the drugs were handed over to
Customs officers for further investigation.

The drugs were traced back to the Kent distribution centre and the
other four stores were alerted.

Tesco has also contacted other stores on the delivery run to be on the
look-out for drugs. So far, 70kg of cannabis has been found, but there
is no danger that it contaminated any food.

How the drugs came to be in the consignment from Germany is now the
subject of a Customs investigation. Officers suspect dealers had
intended to intercept the cannabis before it reached the warehouse.

A Customs source said: "We are working on the theory that the drugs,
for whatever reason, were not picked up along the delivery route by
the dealers behind it.

"So the drugs found their way to the distribution centre and were then
delivered to several stores. "Someone will be furious that these drugs
were not picked up, but thanks to the vigilance at one store, we have
found 70 kg of the drug."

A Customs spokesman said: "There is no question of any danger to
public health. The drugs were concealed among the packages of the
food. The drugs were clearly not intended to be sent to Tesco."

 

 

 

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