Auto Amazon Links: No products found. Blocked by captcha.
Richard Baker of BBC News in North West reported on the final member of a European-wide gang being sentenced for their involvement in a plot to import drugs worth £20m into the UK. Eddie Burton, aged 23, was handed a 19-year prison term at Canterbury Crown Court, while his former partner Sian Banks, also from Liverpool, received a five-year jail sentence earlier this year. The arrests came after two lorries, carrying heroin, cocaine, and ketamine, were intercepted at the Port of Dover in 2022. The driver of the lorries, Maris Fridvalds, a Latvian national, was sentenced to 14 years in prison in March 2023.
The drugs discovered in the lorries weighed a total of 307kg. Border Force officers found 90kg of ketamine and 50kg of cocaine in the first lorry on July 3, 2022, packed in boxes and a Lidl shopping bag. The second lorry, intercepted on August 12, contained 142kg of cocaine and 25kg of heroin. Forensics teams matched Burton’s fingerprints and DNA to both drug consignments and the modified fuel tank. Burton, who admitted guilt to four counts of importing Class A and B drugs, was apprehended at an Ibiza nightclub in August 2023 for separate drug-related offenses. Authorities had been on the lookout for him as he was residing in the Netherlands and Spain after leaving the UK in early 2021 before being extradited back last year.
Following Burton’s arrest, Banks, his ex-girlfriend, acknowledged seven charges, including importing Class A drugs and money laundering. She was deemed a crucial part of the drug ring, with police discovering that she frequently visited Burton in the Netherlands and Spain between 2022 and 2023. Messages exchanged between Banks and Burton revealed her involvement in preparing the first drug shipment for transportation following the interception of the lorries. Banks even admitted to having fingerprints on the bags of ketamine, to which Burton callously replied, “You’ve never been nicked or had ye prints took anyway so doesn’t matter.
Read the full article from The BBC here: Read More
Auto Amazon Links: No products found. Blocked by captcha.