Drug smuggling soldier jailed
02.10.10
A soldier with an unblemished Army record has been jailed after he was caught trying to smuggle cannabis worth £40,000 into the country via Gatwick Airport. Roland Cousins, 36, of the Logistics Corps attached to the Engineer Regiment at Waterbeach, was jailed for 18 months at Croydon Crown Court yesterday. He had denied a charge of unlawful importation but was found guilty after a trial. He will now be kicked out of the Army.
Cousins was arrested at Gatwick Airport on a return flight from Jamaica. His luggage was examined and more than 21 kilos of the drug were found.At the trial said he must have picked up the wrong suitcase from the carousel.
Grant Van Stone, defending, said Cousins had had an exemplary character with nine years’ service but he had lost his Army pension and faced immediate dismissal. He said: ‘This will leave his wife to pay the mortgage and will put an end to her university course, so she is being punished as well.’
Recorder Robert Rhodes QC told Cousins: ‘You knew perfectly well you were breaking the law. This was a substantial quantity of cannabis. You are highly thought of in the Army and your dismissal is a direct consequence of your actions, and I have taken that into account in sentencing you.’
A Ministry of Defence spokesman said after the trial: ‘Anyone who receives a custodial sentence should expect to be dismissed from the Army. We do not tolerate drug abuse of any kind.’
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