11/11/2007 00:00:00
UK: =?ISO-8859-1?Q?=A320m_drug_smuggler_jailed_for_six?=
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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
Source:
http://www.ukcia.org/news/shownewsarticle.php?articleid=13001
Author:
York Press via UKCIA
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