The border officials of the United Kingdom say that a Canadian senior hoped that his age and the use of a mobility scooter would help him escape the scrutiny at a London airport in February.
On the other hand, Montrealer Ronald Lord, 71, has been sentenced to six years in prison for drug smuggling. He declared himself guilty after eight kilograms of cocaine were found hidden in the rear of the scooter panel he was using.
“Obviously he thought that, because he was a pensioner, it would be less a goal,” says Richard Wickham, the senior investigator officer of the National Crime Agency of the United Kingdom (NCA), a British working group focused on serious and organized crime. “I was wrong.”
Lord, who gave the police a speech in the suburb of Montreal of Châteauguay, was sentenced last Friday in Croydon Crown Court to six years in prison. He declared himself guilty in August of the positions of smuggling of drugs of class A.
The discovery was made on February 7, when Lord landed a flight from Barbados in the Caribbean and went to the exit doors in a mobility scooter. Border Force officials at Gatwick airport radiograph the scooter and found cocaine, with an estimated street value of around $ 1.2 million of CDN.
Initially, Lord denied any knowledge of drugs, claiming that he had been on a seven -day vacation to Barbados and was a tourist in the United Kingdom with plans to do some tourism, police said.
But after consulting with the airlines, the researchers established that Montreal had flown to Bridgetown, Barbados, and spent three days there before flying to the United Kingdom
A search also found a screw in Lord’s pocket, which determined that it came from the mobile scooter seat panel.
The authorities also told CBC that a search on his mobile phone appeared messages with other people who indicate that he would be paid for the “work trip.”
Drugs hidden in dry ice, false grass and cheese
In a press release, the NCA said that drug gangs are becoming creative with whom they use as mules.
“Organized crimes groups need smugglers like Lord to bring class drugs to the United Kingdom,” Wickham said. “Gangs are sold by great profits that deal with violence and exploitation.”
As a CBC NCA spokesman said, “using a mobility scooter is somewhat unusual.
“But we see all kinds.”
In May, the British border force arrested an American 23 -year -old resident, who was found with crack with a crack valued at almost $ 1.5 million hidden CDN inside an eight -kilogram wheel of Parmesan cheese. Jamie Choi, from California, was sentenced in August to five years and three months in jail.
Also this year, the NCA has successfully prosecuted other drug traffickers after sets were found in articles such as an air compressor, dry ice and artificial grass.
With Lord now fulfilling time in a British prison, Wickham of the NCA said he hopes that others think twice before choosing to use a mobility device in the hope of deceiving the border agents of the United Kingdom.
“I hope this case sends a message to anyone who considers doing the same,” he said.
