UK: £5.2 MILLION COCAINE LOAD EARNS 18 YEARS JAIL FOR LORRY DRIVER
A Cambridgeshire lorry driver, Neal Roberts, has been sentenced to 18 years in prison after attempting to import 45.3 kilograms of Cocaine Hydrochloride through the Port of Dover. The drugs were found in two holdalls on a bed inside his vehicle. They have an estimated street value of £5.2 million.
39 year old Roberts, of Kinderley Road, Wisbech, Cambridgeshire was found guilty at Canterbury Crown Court on Wednesday August 3 following a 3-day trial.
His Honour Judge Van de Bijl, in passing sentence said:
“This is an extremely serious offence, it causes great harm to society, especially young people”
HMRC investigator Chris Ballard commented:
“The severity of the sentence handed down today should send out a clear warning to those who attempt to smuggle Class A drugs into the country. HM Revenue & Customs will continue to work at the forefront of the fight to stop drug trafficking into the UK and to reduce the associated harm to our communities.”
The Revenue and Customs Prosecutions Office (RCPO) successfully prosecuted this case. RCPO is an independent prosecuting authority that reports to the Attorney General and is responsible for the prosecution of all HMRC cases in England and Wales.
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This case concerns the importation of approximately 45.3 Kilograms of Cocaine Hydrochloride contrary to section 170 (2) of the Customs & Excise Management Act 1979.
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Neal Roberts, (d.o.b. 27.9.65) was stopped in bound at the Eastern Docks, Dover, having arrived from Calais on 20 November 2004.
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Roberts was the driver and sole occupant of a tractor unit, registration number AU54 CCD.
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Inspection of the tractor unit located 2 holdalls, containing 24 brown taped packages.
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Photographs are available from HMRC Press Office.
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Revenue and Customs Prosecutions Office was created by Royal Assent on 7 April. An independent prosecuting authority, RCPO reports directly to the Attorney General and is responsible for prosecuting some of the largest drug and fraud cases in the UK. For further information contact the RCPO Press Office on 0207 865 5666.
Issued by HM Revenue & Customs Media Relations Team
Was he just the bag man■■?
In these cases you often hear about where truck drivers are imprisioned for carrying drugs does it actually have to be proven that he was involved or is the fact that drugs were found on his truck makes him guilty even though in some, if not most circumstances it would be absoluetly impossible for the driver ever to discover such drugs without tearing to pieces each pallet?
Normally i`d have some sympathy but this bloke had two holdalls full on his bunk, scum like him dont deserve any sympathy and only tarnish further the already bad name we have.
I hope he shares a cell with an 18 stone transexual
Of course he may not have noticed the 2 holdalls on his bunk.
After all, drivers don’t get much time for sleeping do they? 
Salut, David.
JB:
I hope he shares a cell with an 18 stone transexual
What has the 18 stone transexual done to deserve that then? 
i fully agree with jb on this one, there is no room in this industry for the scumbags that allow themselves to be used as donkeys for the drug trade.
no matter how financially hard up they feel, transportation of ■■■■■■■■ drugs (or any drugs for that matter) is not the answer, this isn’t a case of cheating the government out of a few quid in taxes, this is about bringing sadness, horror and death into our society and our lifes, drugs cause a lot of problems to a lot of people.
drug addiction is an all too easy habit to fall into and it’s because of the people that transport the drugs to these shores that such addictions can happen.
If a truck arrived in Dover from say Barcelona and it was found that inside one pallet there was some drugs would the driver also be held responsible and imprisioned?
Spardo:
Of course he may not have noticed the 2 holdalls on his bunk.
After all, drivers don’t get much time for sleeping do they?
Salut, David.
I accept your point david, but i find it very difficult to believe that he didnt notice two large holdalls on his bed
JB:
Normally i`d have some sympathy but this bloke had two holdalls full on his bunk, scum like him dont deserve any sympathy and only tarnish further the already bad name we have.
I hope he shares a cell with an 18 stone transexual
Or 2 of them. That way they could do shifts 
robinhood_1984:
If a truck arrived in Dover from say Barcelona and it was found that inside one pallet there was some drugs would the driver also be held responsible and imprisioned?
More than likely, and if he was stopped in France before he got to the UK almost definitely.
Coffeeholic:
robinhood_1984:
If a truck arrived in Dover from say Barcelona and it was found that inside one pallet there was some drugs would the driver also be held responsible and imprisioned?
More than likely, and if he was stopped in France before he got to the UK almost definitely.
I thought as much. Is there anything that you can realistically do to avoid carrying drugs? I dont see how its possible for a truck driver to detect anything if its burried inside a pallet that would involve actually damaging the goods or packaging to find.
Im glad somebody picked up on the fact that these 2 bags were found on open display on the bunk. Either Neal Roberts is totally stupid and deserves 18 years for that 
or he is a drug smuggler and deserves to have his nuts cut off with a junior hacksaw.
I worked with an Irish bloke at Norman Lewis who is in Canterbury nick for exactly the same offence. He said that someone forced him to carry the bags
I cannot remember his name, but if I do I will publish that too
I hope this bloke meets the transexual 
robinhood_1984:
I thought as much. Is there anything that you can realistically do to avoid carrying drugs? I dont see how its possible for a truck driver to detect anything if its burried inside a pallet that would involve actually damaging the goods or packaging to find.
This is why Justice For Drivers was formed.
Guilty until proven innocent.
Unfortunately, Euro drivers have to put up with thoughts of this every trip - that and immigrants.
Under present EU law the driver is automatically presumed guilty if drugs are found within the load 
and has to try to prove his innocence from jail a task not to be envied.
Several hundred drivers of all nationalities are at present in jails throughout Europe most of these in France, it is difficult to believe that they are all guilty.
In the case of other kinds of contraband i.e. cigarettes packed in pallets in disguised cartons for example a recent EU High Court ruling states that the driver is to be held responsable for the fine and any payable taxes due on such contrarand whether it is there with or without his knowledge .
So be careful folks.
Anyone who thinks that these laws are injust can go to
www.justicefordrivers.org and sign the petition by clicking on sign the petition which can be found on the right hand side of the page
ianyng:
robinhood_1984:
I thought as much. Is there anything that you can realistically do to avoid carrying drugs? I dont see how its possible for a truck driver to detect anything if its burried inside a pallet that would involve actually damaging the goods or packaging to find.
This is why Justice For Drivers was formed.
Guilty until proven innocent.
Unfortunately, Euro drivers have to put up with thoughts of this every trip - that and immigrants.
Is there any other job where you risk criminal proceedings against you the instant you step into your truck?
As for illegal immigrants, my dad has had loads of trouble with them. A few years ago my parents took the move of putting the house only in my mum’s name so it couldn’t be taken if he was fined some stupid amount. As he’s a German citizen, when he has been found with them, they have been very un-willing to take action against him as he tells them to try it and see what the German embassy has to say about it and reminds them what happened when a group of German truck drivers took the British Government or whoever it was to the European Court and got their convicions quashed. It really does take the urine though when you have been cleared in Calais by immigration, only to arrive at Dover with 4 Iraqi Kurds in the back.
Vascoingles:
Anyone who thinks that these laws are injust can go to
www.justicefordrivers.org and sign the petition by clicking on sign the petition which can be found on the right hand side of the page
Just signed the petition. A shame I was only number 713 though.
As for the rest of your post, it makes for very depressing, if not frightening reading. Once I get my class 1 I have a 100% intention of doing international work, probably for a company in Benelux of Germany and this kind of thing is definetly in my mind a alot because in reality there is absoluetly nothing that I can think of that any driver can do to actually prevent carrying drugs if it is hidden well within a pallet.
robinhood_1984:
Vascoingles:
Anyone who thinks that these laws are injust can go to
www.justicefordrivers.org and sign the petition by clicking on sign the petition which can be found on the right hand side of the page
Just signed the petition. A shame I was only number 713 though.
As for the rest of your post, it makes for very depressing, if not frightening reading. Once I get my class 1 I have a 100% intention of doing international work, probably for a company in Benelux of Germany and this kind of thing is definetly in my mind a alot because in reality there is absoluetly nothing that I can think of that any driver can do to actually prevent carrying drugs if it is hidden well within a pallet.
Although there are some mistaken arrests Robin, the C & E have very good intelligence and are active in their searches in targeted trucks. No doubt this dipstick had been followed from where he picked them up and asked if he was carrying any banned substance.
One thing to be sure of is not to be clever with the authorities and threaten them, or hold up their activity as they have more power than anyone else in the world.
If a load of something is found in the load you will have a fair trial in the UK, unfortunately France has a different system to ours
Wheel Nut:
If a load of something is found in the load you will have a fair trial in the UK, unfortunately France has a different system to ours
Whats the rest of Europe like? Belgium, Italy and Germany etc if you’re found to be carrying drugs?
robinhood_1984:
Wheel Nut:
If a load of something is found in the load you will have a fair trial in the UK, unfortunately France has a different system to ours
Whats the rest of Europe like? Belgium, Italy and Germany etc if you’re found to be carrying drugs?
I dont know, I have never carried them.
Anyone who does deserves all they get.
like nuts removed with a hacksaw